Blinken visits Gaza border crossing to check aid delivery
He told Israel to do more to ensure the quick passage of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of impending famine.
KEREM SHALOM - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday toured a key Gaza border crossing for a first-hand look at aid shipments, after calling on Israel to do more to help the war-ravaged territory.
Blinken travelled to Kerem Shalom, an Israeli entry point into Gaza a few kilometres (miles) from the southern city of Rafah, where he saw dozens of trucks waiting to enter -- as well as several Israeli military tanks parked nearby.
Blinken, who was escorted by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, did not immediately speak to reporters.
However, aides said Blinken raised concerns about the rate of aid entering the Palestinian territory during a meeting in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking the day before in Jordan, Blinken said there had been "real and important progress, but more still needs to be done".
He has called for Israel to do more to ensure the quick passage of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of impending famine.
Measures that Israel can take, Blinken said earlier, included drawing up a list of goods that would not be subject to arbitrary denial and clearing more drivers to enter the Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials sought to show progress to Blinken.
Shimon Freedman, a spokesman for COGAT, which coordinates Israeli policy in the occupied territories, said that 98.5 percent of shipments were getting through without Israeli objections and that there was a target of clearing 500 trucks a day to enter the Gaza Strip.
Kerem Shalom has become a symbol of US efforts to press Israel into allowing humanitarian assistance into Gaza after the October 7 attacks.
After initially blocking all deliveries into Gaza, Israel reopened the crossing in December under US pressure.
Israel in April agreed to reopen to aid the Ashdod port near Gaza, which Blinken will also visit on Wednesday, as well as a second crossing from Israel to northern Gaza at Erez.
Near Amman on Tuesday, Blinken saw off the first truck convoy of aid supplies from Jordan to go through Erez. - AFP
