The agreement comes as EU Foreign Ministers are set to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including Gaza, on Tuesday.
‘’Following the Israeli Cabinet’s resolutions and the constructive dialogue between the EU and Israel, significant steps have been agreed by Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip,’’ EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced on Thursday.
‘’These measures are or will be implemented in the coming days, with the common understanding that aid at scale must be delivered directly to the population and that measures will continue to be taken to ensure that there is no aid diversion to Hamas,’’ she added in a statement.
The steps include the substantial increase of daily trucks for food and non- food items to enter Gaza, the opening of several other crossing points in both the northern and southern areas, the reopening of the Jordanian and Egyptian aid routes as well as enabling the distribution of food supplies through bakeries and public kitchens throughout the Gaza strip.
The measures also foresee the resumption of fuel deliveries for use by humanitarian facilities, up to an operational level, the protection of aid workers, the repair and facilitation of works on vital infrastructure like the resumption of the power supply to the water desalination facility, the statement adds.
‘’The EU stands ready to coordinate with all relevant humanitarian stakeholders, UN agencies and NGOs on the ground, to ensure swift implementation of those urgent steps,’’ it says.
The EU reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all remaining hostages and said it supports the current efforts of Egypt, Qatar and the United States of America as mediators.
The agreement reached with Israel comes as EU Foreign Ministers are to gather in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including Gaza.
At the previous Foreign Affairs Council meeting in June, Kallas announced that she would address the issue of humanitarian aid to Gaza with Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar following an EU review report of Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Council and a discussion on whether the agreement should be suspended due to alleged Israel non-compliance with its human rights clause.
European Jewish Press will develop this story.