EU and Israel Reach Agreement for Increased Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
The EU and Israel have reached an agreement to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, with deliveries to take place in the “coming days,” the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas announced on Thursday. This breakthrough follows months of negotiations regarding the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, exacerbated by Israel’s intensified military operations against Hamas, reports 24brussels.
The accord entails a “substantial increase of daily trucks for food and non-food items to enter Gaza” via expanded access at various crossing points in both northern and southern regions, in addition to the reopening of aid routes from Jordan and Egypt, Kallas confirmed.
Under the terms of the agreement, bakeries and public kitchens will be permitted to distribute food, and fuel supplies to humanitarian facilities will resume. “These measures are or will be implemented in the coming days, with the common understanding that aid at scale must be delivered directly to the population and that measures will continue to be taken to ensure that there is no aid diversion to Hamas,” Kallas stated.
The deal is a result of a dialogue initiated by Kallas with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, according to a spokesperson from the European Commission.
Recent developments have included an internal EU assessment of Israel’s trade agreement with the bloc, which reportedly indicated “indications of a breach” of the human rights commitments detailed in the deal. The pressure on EU countries to consider imposing sanctions on Israel has intensified, prompting the design of an options paper that includes potential punitive measures. EU foreign ministers are set to discuss this document next Tuesday.
In the lead-up to the agreement, an EU technical team, led by the bloc’s Middle East envoy Christophe Bigot, has been dispatched to Israel to facilitate discussions.
