Israel approved the receipt of assistance to Gaza Strip through the border crossing Kerem Shalom, The Office of the Prime Minister of Israel announced this on Friday.

The office said in a statement that the opening would allow Israel to meet its commitment to allow 200 aid trucks per day through, agreed to in the hostage agreement negotiated and implemented last month.

The crossing was closed following the Hamas attack on October 7, and aid was delivered exclusively through the Hamas border crossing. Rafah, in Gaza, from Egypt, which, according to Israel, could only handle 100 trucks per day.

Jake Sullivan national security adviser USA, welcomed the decision to open the border crossing, which he called a “significant step”, saying that White House hoped that this would ease congestion and facilitate the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid throughout the territory. Rafah.

World Health Organization (WHO) He also welcomed the measure as “good news.”

Kerem Shalom, located on the border between Egypt, Israel and Gaza, is one of the main transit points for goods entering and leaving Gaza, and provides much faster transit than the Rafah crossing, located a few kilometers away.

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As the Israeli campaign in Gaza progressed, the humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave deteriorated sharply. United Nations and other global organizations are warning of serious shortages of food, drinking water and medicine.

UN agencies say that as the bombing continues, it has become impossible to distribute aid beyond Rafah, whose population has grown to nearly a million people and hundreds of thousands of refugees from further afield in the north.