JERUSALEM, Dec  15, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Israel approved Friday the "temporary"
delivery of aid into Gaza via its Kerem Shalom border crossing, the prime
minister's office said, opening a new route for supplies after weeks of
pressure.
       The Gaza Strip is facing dire humanitarian conditions after more than two
months of war, but prior to Friday's decision, all aid entering the territory
had to pass through the Rafah crossing on its border with Egypt.
       Kerem Shalom, which sits on Gaza's border with Israel, recently began
inspecting shipments of aid bound for the territory, but the trucks still had
to travel to Rafah afterwards to enter.
       Israel's cabinet "approved today a temporary measure of unloading the
trucks on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing" in order to increase the
amount of aid getting into the territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's
office said in a statement.
       "The cabinet's decision determines that only humanitarian aid arriving from
Egypt will be transferred into the Gaza Strip this way," it added.
       US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who was wrapping up a visit to
Israel on Friday, called the decision a "significant step".
       "President (Joe) Biden raised this issue in recent phone calls with Prime
Minister Netanyahu, and it was an important topic of discussion during my visit
to Israel over the past two days," he said.
       The United States hoped "this new opening will ease congestion and help
facilitate the delivery of life-saving assistance," Sullivan added.