JERUSALEM - Israel allowed 12 truckloads of desperately needed food and medicines to cross into Gaza Tuesday in the first real easing of the blockade it imposed after HamasÂ’s takover of the impoverished territory. The army also allowed five seriously wounded Palestinians to be brought to Israel for treatment but maintained its refusal to allow hundreds of Gazan asylum-seekers stranded in no-manÂ’s land to cross to the occupied West Bank.
Ten trucks of food and two of medical supplies were delivered to Gaza through international organisations at the southern Kerem Shalom checkpoint, Israeli military spokesman Shlomo Dror said. ‘This is the first time we’ve managed to bring supplies... It went very well,’ Dror told AFP, saying that possibilities of shipping aid by sea or parachute into the Gaza Strip had earlier been discounted as alternatives.
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He said the aid was delivered without contact with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas, which Israel boycotts as a terrorist organisation. ‘We don’t speak to the Hamas people and I don’t see any change to manage to do something with them,’ he said.
TuesdayÂ’s trucks were the first to drive into the Gaza Strip since Hamas took control, Dror said, adding that three small carloads of medical supplies had been delivered through the Erez crossing on Monday. |