Convoy transporting supplies through Kerem Shalom
Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit
Israel reopens key Gaza commercial crossing
Nearly five months after it was shut down following a terror attack, Kerem Shalom goods terminal reopened to allow truck convoy into Gaza
Israel has allowed food and other supplies to enter the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip through a key commercial crossing that had been closed for months, Israeli and Palestinian officials said on Tuesday.
Israeli Defense Ministry official Peter Lerner said about 80 trucks would pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing in a trial run before it is officially reopened in accordance with an Egyptian-mediated truce between Israel and Hamas.
Kerem Shalom has been closed since April, when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a car at the crossing.
Palestinian officials said some 15 trucks carrying canned food and fruit passed through on Monday and they were told more would follow on Tuesday.
Israel and Hamas agreed on a ceasefire in June. It calls on both sides to stop cross-border violence and on Israel to ease a blockade on the Gaza Strip that was tightened after the Islamist group seized control of the territory more than a year ago.
The truce has largely held, although Gaza militants have occasionally fired rockets into Israel, which has prompted the latter to periodically close its borders with the coastal enclave.
Lerner said the trial run was meant to test repairs and improvements made at the border terminal and that it would reopen fully "in the coming days".
