Israel says it has reopened a key border crossing with the Gaza Strip after a rocket attack

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it had reopened its Kerem Shalom border crossing into the Gaza Strip after days of closure. However, the United Nations said humanitarian aid had not yet arrived and there was no one on the Palestinian side to receive it after workers fled into the Gaza Strip during Israel’s military incursion into the territory.

The Kerem Shalom border crossing between Gaza and Israel was closed over the weekend after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers nearby. On Tuesday, an Israeli armored brigade occupied the nearby Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, forcing it to close. The two facilities are the main terminals for the import of food, medicine and other goods vital to the survival of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians.

The Israeli advance did not appear to be the start of the full-scale invasion of the city of Rafah that Israel had repeatedly promised. But aid groups warn that the continued closure of the two border crossings could lead to the collapse of aid operations and worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the United Nations says there is already a “full-blown famine” in the north.

The United States suspended a bomb shipment to Israel last week over fears that Israel is close to deciding to launch a major attack on Rafah, further deepening divisions between the two close allies.

The United States is concerned about the fate of the roughly 1.3 million Palestinians crowded into Rafah, most of whom have fled fighting elsewhere. Israel says Rafah is Hamas’ last stronghold and that a broader offensive is needed there to dismantle the group’s military and governance capabilities.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar, meanwhile, are stepping up efforts to close the gaps in a possible deal for at least a temporary ceasefire and the release of some of the scores of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas. Israel has linked the looming Rafah operation to the fate of these negotiations. CIA chief William Burns, who was traveling to the region for talks on the ceasefire agreement, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door negotiations .

With the capture of Rafah, Israel now controls all Gaza border crossings for the first time since it withdrew troops and settlers from the area nearly two decades ago, although it has maintained a blockade most of the time in cooperation with Egypt. The Rafah border crossing has been a key channel for humanitarian aid since the start of the war and is the only place where people can enter and leave. Kerem Shalom is Gaza’s main cargo terminal.

The U.N. World Food Program’s deputy executive director, Carl Skau, told the Associated Press that the U.N. agency had lost access to its Gaza Strip food storage facility in Rafah, which he said “has been reported as an exclusion zone.”

“We understand that it is still there, but we are very afraid of looting,” Skau said during a visit to neighboring Lebanon, adding that a U.N. logistics warehouse in Rafah had already been looted. He said the agency had been able to secure a warehouse in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, but had not yet filled it with food.

Associated Press journalists heard scattered explosions and gunfire in the area of ​​the Rafah border crossing overnight, including two large blasts early Wednesday. The Israeli military reported six launches from Rafah towards the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Tuesday.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said the Kerem Shalom crossing reopened early Wednesday. But Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s communications director, said no aid had arrived until late afternoon on Wednesday and that the UN agency had been forced to ration fuel imported through Rafah.

Gaza’s Health Ministry, meanwhile, said at least 46 patients and wounded who were due to leave for medical treatment on Tuesday were stuck.

U.N. agencies and aid groups have increased humanitarian aid in recent weeks as Israel lifted some restrictions and opened an additional border crossing in the north under pressure from the United States, its closest ally.

But aid workers say the closure of Rafah, the only gateway for the import of fuel for trucks and generators, could have serious implications, and the UN says there is already “full-blown famine” in the northern Gaza Strip.

Skau, of the World Food Program, said some food had been delivered to the north in recent weeks.

“When we got there, people emerged from the rubble extremely weak and unable to even carry the box of food,” he said, adding that an increase in infectious diseases among children could worsen the crisis in the north.

“It is the combination of widespread disease and acute malnutrition that creates this deadly cocktail,” he said.

According to COGAT, 60 relief trucks arrived via the North Crossing on Tuesday. Before the war, around 500 trucks entered the Gaza Strip every day.

The war began when Hamas militants broke through Israel’s defenses on October 7 and pushed through nearby army bases and farming communities, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping another 250. Hamas is believed to still be holding about 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 more, having released most of the others during a ceasefire in November.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which makes no distinction between militants killed and civilians killed, more than 34,800 Palestinians have been killed in the war and around 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have been forced from their homes. The Israeli military operation was one of the deadliest and most destructive in recent history, leaving large swaths of the Gaza Strip in ruins.

Biden has repeatedly warned Netanyahu not to launch an invasion of Rafah. But Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have threatened to topple his government if he calls off an offensive or makes too many concessions in ceasefire negotiations.

The US has historically provided enormous amounts of military aid to Israel, which has only accelerated since the war began.

The suspended shipment was to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 smaller bombs, with U.S. concerns focused on how the larger bombs could be used in a dense urban environment, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, on condition of anonymity to talk about this sensitive matter. The official said no final decision has been made yet on how to proceed with the delivery.

Krauss, Magdy and Lidman write for the Associated Press. Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman from Tel Aviv. AP journalists Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller in Washington and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed.