The Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza opened to aid trucks on Sunday for the first time since the start of the conflict. This development is expected to increase the quantity of food and medication that reaches the enclave by twofold, according to officials.

After a Hamas attack on October 7, the crossing was closed, and aid could only enter Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah crossing. According to Israel, this crossing can only handle 100 trucks per day.

Two sources in the Egypt Red Crescent told Reuters that trucks were starting to enter on Sunday through the Kerem Shalom crossing on their way into Gaza. One said there were 79 trucks.

Kerem Shalom, on the border of Egypt, Israel and Gaza, is one of the main transit points for goods in and out of Gaza, allowing much faster transit than the Rafah passenger crossing a few kilometres away.

Israel approved the entry of aid last week.

“Starting today (Dec.17), UN aid trucks will undergo security checks and be transferred directly to Gaza via Kerem Shalom, to abide by our agreement with the US,” COGAT, the branch of military which coordinated humanitarian aid with the Palestinian territories, said in a statement.

The prime minister’s office has previously said this would allow Israel to maintain its commitments to permit the entry of 200 trucks of aid per day, agreed upon in a hostage deal brokered and implemented last month.

Asked if aid had crossed into Gaza, an Israeli official said yes.

Israel had already agreed to allow trucks to be inspected at Kerem Shalom but the trucks had previously been obliged to return to Rafah, to cross into Gaza from Egypt and aid groups had been calling for them to be allowed in directly.

As Israel’s campaign in Gaza has gathered pace, the humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave has worsened dramatically with the United Nations and other world bodies warning of severe shortages of food, clean water and medicines.