The Israeli government Friday released video it said showed the first humanitarian aid trucks entering northern Gaza through a newly opened aid corridor.
In posts on the agency’s official X account, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the Israeli agency for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories — COGAT — displayed video it said showed trucks entering Gaza both late Thursday and Friday.
In its post, COGAT, which oversees supplies moving into Gaza, reported 213 aid trucks had been inspected and moved into Gaza through the crossing.
The statement said the trucks had undergone rigorous checks by security authorities with the Israeli Ministry of Defense Land Crossings Authority at the Kerem Shalom crossing and were accompanied by Israel Defense Forces.
Both the Reuters news agency and the French news agency AFP said they could not confirm the authenticity of the video or the exact location of the newly-opened crossing.
Meanwhile, a team of medical personnel from the World Health Organization, or WHO, reported Friday no building or road had been left intact in Khan Younis, following a tour of the southern Gaza strip this week.
At a briefing in Geneva, WHO released video of three medical facilities the team visited this week — the Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Aqsa and Al-Khair hospitals — following the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
They reported all facilities were found to be completely non-functional, with no oxygen supply, no water, no electricity and no working sewage systems. The Nasser Medical Complex, which WHO officials said had been “the backbone” of the south Gaza health system, is now mostly rubble.
In north Gaza, the Al-Shifa Hospital also revealed a grim scenario. “It was shocking to realize that the hospital's open spaces were filled with makeshift graves for people that lost their lives there.”
No letup in hostilities
Israeli media reported that Hezbollah militants fired dozens of Katyusha rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel on Friday. No injuries were reported.
Earlier, Palestinian and Israeli media sources reported Israel’s military shot two Palestinians dead early Friday near the West Bank city of Tubas.
Media reports said one man was killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire on his vehicle in Tubas. Another Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli gunfire during a military raid in the al-Fara refugee camp, south of Tubas.
Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the reports.
The latest violence followed the announcement Thursday of what the military called "new and improved measures" to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, including construction of a new land crossing in northern Gaza.
Military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video statement that the new crossing would "enable more aid to flow directly to civilians in the areas that have been challenging for the trucks to access."
International humanitarian groups have complained for months about obstacles to bringing aid by truck into Gaza, citing delays imposed by the Israeli military and a lack of safe access to areas such as northern Gaza due to the fighting.
Hagari said Israel expects 50 trucks per day to pass through the new crossing and that the total number of trucks reaching the Gaza Strip each day will gradually rise from 350 to about 500.
The United Nations says about 500 trucks per day were bringing aid to Gaza before the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
In a phone call Wednesday with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States expects Israel to quickly act on its commitments to facilitate more humanitarian aid and to coordinate with aid groups to ensure there is no repeat of the strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy that killed seven aid workers earlier this month.
As of Thursday, more than 250 humanitarian and human rights groups have called for an end to arms transfers to Israel and Palestinian armed groups.
The State Department said Blinken and Gallant also discussed the ongoing talks about a cease-fire agreement that would include the release of hostages held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
The United States said Thursday it has restricted its employees in Israel and their family members from personal travel outside the greater areas of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Be'er Sheva due to threats from Iran to retaliate against Israel for the April 1 airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus.
Some information for this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
