{"id":40358,"date":"2024-05-01T18:40:30","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/01\/aid-passing-through-gazas-lifeline-northern-crossing-at-erez-for-first-time\/"},"modified":"2024-05-01T18:40:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:40:30","slug":"aid-passing-through-gazas-lifeline-northern-crossing-at-erez-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/01\/aid-passing-through-gazas-lifeline-northern-crossing-at-erez-for-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Aid passing through Gaza’s ‘lifeline’ northern crossing at Erez for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Aid<\/div>


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An Israel Defence Forces checkpoint waves our car down, and our passports and IDs are checked by soldiers – we’re then told to pull up behind other cars before a signal is given to follow.<\/p>\n

The convoy moves off down a road I’ve travelled so many times that I can’t remember how many.<\/p>\n

We’re taken to the Erez Crossing point, a transit hub between Israel<\/a><\/strong> and Gaza<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It’s a place where every day for years thousands of Palestinian workers would queue in line to pass across the border; their paperwork, identity, and travel permits, checked and rechecked by soldiers.<\/p>\n

Like the Palestinians, all foreign journalists – no Israelis were allowed – crossed here by foot, dragging our equipment a kilometre or so to meet up with our Gaza-based colleagues inside.<\/p>\n

Many of them have never left the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

Erez was like a crossing point between two worlds, between wealth and poverty, and between freedom and incarceration.<\/p>\n

It was also almost like a portal in a sci-fi film – threatening, indestructible, unassailable. And then 7 October happened and Hamas<\/a><\/strong> attacked.<\/p>\n

Now battered watchtowers, damaged buildings, and workers repairing the crossing are testament to the fact Hamas overran this place – something most people thought was impossible.<\/p>\n

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\n A damaged watchtower (above) and checkpoint at the Erez Crossing
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This is the first time we’ve been allowed here since that day, and it’s also the first time humanitarian aid is being allowed to cross into northern Gaza through Erez.<\/p>\n

We are led past new security fences and through old security walls, taken on foot by the IDF into Gaza itself to see the aid trucks from Jordan offloading the aid.<\/p>\n

This is happening because of international pressure<\/a><\/strong>, led by the US, for Israel to do more to increase aid for Gazans.<\/p>\n

We watch as the humanitarian cargo is offloaded from the trucks and placed on the ground.<\/p>\n

Once these trucks have left, the pallets of aid will be collected by different trucks sent by aid agencies operating in Gaza.<\/p>\n

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\n Aid from Jordan was being offloaded when Sky News visited
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The aid will then be taken further into northern Gaza, where it is so desperately needed.<\/p>\n

‘Lessons learnt’ from aid workers’ deaths<\/strong><\/p>\n

The coordination of the movement of the aid inside is the most dangerous bit for the agencies.<\/p>\n

Last month, seven workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity were killed by the IDF<\/a><\/strong>, despite their mission being coordinated with them, and their deaths – and the subsequent outrage from the US – appear to have forced the hand of the Israeli government to allow aid through here.<\/p>\n

It is significant because the Erez Crossing is the largest crossing point in the north and can therefore manage larger volumes of aid deliveries to northern Gaza specifically.<\/p>\n

I asked Col. Moshe Tetro, who was coordinating and overwatching the aid crossing, how they can assure all humanitarian workers they will be safe.<\/p>\n

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\n Col Tetro said the deaths of the aid workers was a ‘very, sorry event’
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He apologised for what happened to the WCK workers and said the IDF had learnt lessons from it.<\/p>\n

“It’s the only occasion that we had such a very, sorry event, and we are doing everything that we can in order to prevent it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The lessons that were learnt from what happened to WCK, those lessons were implemented.”<\/p>\n

The colonel told journalists the plan is for the Erez Crossing to be used every day from now on, and that a Rafah offensive would not affect the movement of aid.<\/p>\n

He also said they’d been planning it for weeks.<\/p>\n

Nearby, Israeli soldiers guarding the pallets stare out at the ruins of Gaza – a jagged horizon of multi-storey buildings reduced to ruins, with no signs of life.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n
\n Follow Sky News on WhatsApp<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News<\/p>\n

Tap here<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read more:
Why imminent Rafah offensive has prompted condemnation<\/a>
Baby girl saved from dead mother’s womb in Gaza dies<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Erez Crossing has divided these peoples, and now it is a lifeline demanded by the international community.<\/p>\n

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken,, on his seventh visit to the region, has two objectives.<\/p>\n

The first is to push for an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.<\/p>\n

The second is ensuring the delivery of aid to the Strip dramatically increases.<\/p>\n

Mr Blinken has met with the Israeli government and planned to visit Kerem Shalom – a major entry point for aid into southern Gaza.<\/p>\n

Fear driving Rafah families north<\/strong><\/p>\n

A short distance over that border in Rafah, deadly airstrikes continue.<\/p>\n

With all the talk of a ground offensive<\/a><\/strong> it’s easy to forget that the city is bombed virtually every day, killing many.<\/p>\n

And such is the fear that Israel is about to launch a ground offensive that some families are leaving and heading back northwards.<\/p>\n

Our Sky News Gaza team filmed families who had moved back into the ruins of their homes in Khan Younis.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Families\n <\/div>
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\n Families have been walking back northwards
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\n A child walks through the rubble in Khan Younis
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<\/a><\/p>\n

All of them said it was safer to go back to their destroyed homes than stay in Rafah, if a ground offensive starts.<\/p>\n

Halima Abdullah al Tayeh, 68, went home with her husband.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Halima\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Halima and her husband are one of the families who’ve gone back to their ruined homes
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“When we heard they were going to invade Rafah, we returned to Khan Younis to see our houses and we found them destroyed,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We were devastated when we saw our houses, we built them with great effort and hard-won money.”<\/p>\n

But she said it’s still a better option.<\/p>\n

“We thought we would be better off staying here, we were afraid that they would invade Rafah and harm us, so we preferred to stay in the ruins of our houses.”<\/p>\n

It’s all you need to know about fear that people are prepared to live in the midst of the rubble rather than risk being in Rafah when the Israeli army attacks.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Israel Defence Forces checkpoint waves our car down, and our passports and IDs are checked by soldiers – we’re then told to pull up behind other cars before a signal is given to follow. The convoy moves off down a road I’ve travelled so many times that I can’t remember how many. We’re taken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/05\/768x432\/skynews-erez-gaza-israel_6539836.jpg?20240501170319","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[41,24156,42382,11468,24644,6235,36469,222],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40358"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40360,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40358\/revisions\/40360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}