IDF announces closed military zone at Kerem Shalom as activists block aid again
An Egyptian truck carrying humanitarian aid undergoes security checks at the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing before entering the southern Gaza Strip on 22 January 2024
Emanuel Fabian and ToI staff report in The Times of Israel on 28 January 2024:
The IDF announced on Sunday the establishment of a closed military zone around the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip, after days of protests by family members of hostages had largely blocked humanitarian aid from passing through.
The new order, which was signed Saturday night by IDF Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, makes it illegal for civilians to be in the vicinity of the crossing or on nearby roads.
Despite the order, hundreds of activists still made it to the crossing on Sunday and told Channel 13 that they had marched through nearby fields to circumvent police roadblocks in order to block trucks from carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Large groups of activists, including some families of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, protested daily at the crossing last week, demanding that no aid be allowed to enter Gaza via Israel as long as the hostages remain in captivity.
After repeated attempts, the protesters succeeded at blocking at least some of the aid on Wednesday and did so again on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
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As part of a temporary truce deal in November, 105 hostages were released, and Israel promised to up the number of trucks carrying aid to 200 a day, but could not keep up with the demand with only one crossing open. As a result, Netanyahu announced in mid-December that Israel would reopen Kerem Shalom to allow more aid into the Strip.
Over the past week, however, protesters have demanded that humanitarian aid for Gaza be withheld until the remainder of the hostages are released, and have gone to the Kerem Shalom crossing daily to attempt to block the trucks.