Right-wing Israeli activists block roads to prevent aid from reaching Gaza

JERUSALEM (AA) – Right-wing Israeli activists and relatives of prisoners in Gaza obstructed humanitarian aid trucks from entering the enclave on Friday.

“Activists of the Order 9 movement blocked the Nitzana Border Crossing to prevent trucks with humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip,” Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported.

It added that protesters said that “supply trucks for Hamas will not enter here today. No aid will go through until the last hostage returns.”

Israel decided last month to allow limited humanitarian aid to enter Gaza after they passed inspection at the Kerem Shalom and Nitzana crossings.

Israeli media had reported in January that the US pressured Israel to allow more aid to pass through the crossings, which Israel had closed when it began its war on Gaza in October.

Right-wing activists and relatives of prisoners have been staging protests for about two weeks on roads leading to the crossings to prevent humanitarian aid from getting to Gaza.

The Israeli army declared the areas of the crossings “closed military zones” during the past week to prevent demonstrators from obstructing trucks, but protesters have continued to demonstrate on roads leading to the crossings to block humanitarian aid trucks.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip on October 7, as a result of which at least 27,947 Palestinians have been killed and 67,459 others injured, mostly women and children.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

An interim ruling last month by the International Court of Justice told Israel to cease its abuses, but most international observers say it has been flouting the ruling.