Netanyahu’s office says it will allow “temporary” aid deliveries via its border with the northern Gaza Strip.

“Israel will allow the temporary delivery of humanitarian aid through Ashdod and the Erez checkpoint,” the statement from the prime minister’s office said, referring to a port about 40km (25 miles) north of Gaza and the Beit Hanoon land crossing.

“This increased aid will prevent a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war,” it added.

Of course it still just delay tactics. I doubt it will be enough and it's just an excuse to keep the war going. Ceasefire is the only thing that will work to avert imminent famine.

How much of a difference will crossing opening make?

This decision [to open a second crossing] is being framed as a way to complete Israel’s war aims.

The [Beit Hanoon] Erez is the crossing in the north, and Ashdod is an Israeli port further north. Aid is going to come through the Ashdod port and then through the Erez crossing into northern Gaza – the first part of Gaza devastated by Israel in its assault on the strip.

How much difference will it make? This is in the hands of the Israelis and how much aid they will let through it.

Any increase will be a benefit to the starving people of Gaza as what has entered so far has not even begun to meet people’s needs.

No change when it comes to killing more people

Overnight air raids, shelling pounds Gaza

Israeli police say they have arrested eight people at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem amid heavy restrictions to access for Palestinian worshippers on the final Friday prayers of Ramadan.

Tensions have been running high as Israeli authorities have denied entry to the site – the third holiest in Islam – to the vast majority of Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank during the Muslim holy month.

Israel said children under 10, women over 50 and men over 55 years of age would be allowed to pray in the Al-Aqsa Mosque if they have a valid permit. This slashes the already small percentage of those allowed to enter the site.

After dawn prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israeli forces fired tear gas at “thousands of worshippers” who were chanting slogans to protest against Israel’s war in Gaza, reports the Wafa news agency.

Israeli forces arrested at least five of the worshippers, Wafa added.

Some 65,000 worshippers have already prayed at Al-Aqsa on the last Friday of Ramadan, according to the Islamic waqf that administers the site.

With Israel’s announcement it will open the Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossing into northern Gaza, Palestinians are waiting to see how many aid convoys will be let into the area, where famine-like conditions are pervasive.

Palestinians are also questioning whether there will be “real, practical mechanisms to increase the capacity” of such aid, reports Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum from Rafah.

Still, the step is being seen in Gaza as a positive sign that could help “partially alleviate” the desperate conditions in the north, Abu Azzoum added.

Some 250 trucks will pass through the Karem Abu Salem (Karem Shalom) crossing via southern Israel, while 100 will go through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, reports Israeli Army Radio, quoting Israel’s security cabinet.

This would mark a significant increase in the passage of aid trucks, only 200 of which are currently reaching Gaza per day according to Army Radio.

Israel has also announced it will open the Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossing into northern Gaza and allow the temporary delivery of aid through the Port of Ashdod.

However 500 daily are needed just to sustain the population, while many more daily are needed to bring the Gaza strip back from imminent famine and restore the health infrastructure and medical needs.

The resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council has also demanded a halt to all arms sales to Israel, highlighting warnings of “genocide” in its war on Gaza.

The vote marked the first time the UN’s top rights body has taken a position on the nearly six-month war.

As we have reported, the White House has said Biden pressed Netanyahu during their phone call to implement “specific, concrete and measurable” steps to protect civilians and aid workers in Gaza.

Saul Takahashi, a former deputy head of office at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in occupied Palestine, told Al Jazeera that the narrative until now that the US president has been “getting tough” on the Israeli prime minister has “really just been smoke and mirrors”.

“It’s seemingly directed at the hope that somehow this will increase Biden’s very desperate support amongst a lot of voters in the United States,” said Takahashi, who is a professor of human rights and peace studies at Osaka Jogakuin University.

“Up till now, nothing much has come of it,” he added.

Takahashi said what Biden really has to do is not ask for some kind of concrete measurable plan but to stop immediately the unending flow of weapons and the political support that the US gives to Israel.

“Talk is cheap,” he added, also calling on Western countries to impose sanctions on Israel.

“[They must make] sure that the situation of impunity that Israel has enjoyed for decades and decades as it flouts international law systematically [is] brought to an end.”

Gaza plight ‘not a humanitarian issue but an issue of genocide’

UN Human Rights Council resolution ‘significant, but not impactful’

Over the past hour, we have seen more Israeli attacks on areas across the Gaza Strip. One of the latest attacks targeted a residential house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, with Israeli fighter jets completely destroying the entire building. At least three Palestinians there have been reported killed.

Here in Rafah in the south, the Israeli military’s artillery units have pounded the eastern areas that are adjacent to the border, alongside ongoing attacks on Beit Lahiya and the Jabalia refugee camp.

People in northern Gaza surviving on less than 12 percent daily calories

The World Central Kitchen (WCK) has said the Israeli army’s investigation is an “important step forward” but called for an independent commission to probe the killings of its staff.

The Israeli army “cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza”, the charity said in a statement.

“It is also clear from their preliminary investigation that the [Israeli army] has deployed deadly force without regard to its own protocols, chain of command and rules of engagement,” it added, referring to the Israeli army.

WCK also called for the establishment of an independent investigation into Monday’s deadly accident.

“The [Israeli army] has acknowledged that our teams followed all proper communications procedures. The I[Israeli army’s] own video fails to show any cause to fire on our personnel convoy, which carried no weapons and posed no threat,” it said.

“Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families.”

We also have the first comments from WCK CEO Erin Gore and founder Jose Andres.

Gore:

• “Their apologies for the outrageous killing of our colleagues represent cold comfort.”
• “It’s cold comfort for the victims’ families and WCK’s global family.”
• “Israel needs to take concrete steps to assure the safety of humanitarian aid workers. Our operations remain suspended.”

Andres:

• “It’s not enough to simply try to avoid further humanitarian deaths, which have now approached close to 200.”
• “All civilians need to be protected, and all innocent people in Gaza need to be fed and safe. And all hostages must be released.”

This response, I think, is Israel hoping it is drawing a line under the incident. What we’re not seeing in the report is whether there are going to be any legal prosecutions against the [dismissed military officials.]

That might come in the future, but it’s certainly not contained in the report. What we’re getting is dismissals and military reprimands. But that’s not necessarily justice for the family and friends of the people who died.

Poland is demanding criminal action be brought against the Israeli soldiers responsible for what it called the “murder” of seven aid workers, including a Polish national, in Gaza.

“We want [Polish] prosecutors to be added and implicated in the explanations and in the entire criminal and disciplinary procedure for the soldiers responsible for this … murder,” Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna said.

It is worth mentioning that, prior to this, there have not been any admissions of unlawful killings by the Israelis, especially when it comes to the deaths of Palestinians in the besieged Palestinian territories.

But in this instance, specifically, the Israeli army said that their investigation found that procedures were not met, and protocols were not followed.

This comes after there was an investigation in one Israeli newspaper that cited military officials who said that, essentially, military commanders and officers on the ground act however they see fit and often disregard any sort of protocol when it comes to strikes like this.

But the reality is that all of these movements for the aid workers who have been killed were all with the Israeli army. They knew about their whereabouts, there was a lot of coordination, they were in areas that were supposed to be deemed safe according to the Israeli army.

“More than half the population – over a million people – are facing catastrophic hunger. Children in Gaza today are dying for lack of food and water. “This is incomprehensible, and entirely avoidable.

“Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”


UN chief troubled by Israeli army’s AI usage

Tamara Alrifai says there are have not been reports so far of any aid convoys going into Gaza through the Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossing.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Amman, Jordan, the UNRWA spokesperson also noted that this crossing has been primarily used in the past for humanitarian personnel going in and out of Gaza and for humanitarian cases such as cancer patients requiring treatment outside of the besieged territory.

“It is not one of the big logistical hubs that would allow a huge influx or flow of trucks and humanitarian assistance but at this stage, any additional land crossing into Gaza that allows to relieve people through bringing in aid is welcome – provided it’s truly open.”


Much smaller than Rafah. Also it looks like there are neighborhoods planned? Roads planned along the border in Gaza. Mapa Gisrael provides the street layout data. Odd.

The UN special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories has commended the states at the Human Rights Council “who voted to pass a resolution calling to halt arms transfers to Israel at this critical moment”.

“[The] next step for all states is to enforce this, as well as recent UN resolutions to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza. This is in line with states’ obligations under international law, including ICJ [International Court of Justice] provisional measures,” she said in a post on X.

UN resolution ‘better late than never’

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby has said there are no plans by the United States to conduct an independent investigation into the killings of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers by Israeli forces.

The US just wants it to go away asap so this doesn't get more attention

Israel’s attack on WCK workers not ‘isolated’, Palestine’s Mansour says

‘Our failures mean their death,’ Palestine’s Mansour says