Israel has allowed food and other supplies to enter the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip through a key commercial border crossing that has been closed for four months, and the crossing will fully reopen soon, an Israeli defense official said Tuesday.
About 80 trucks would pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing in southeast Gaza Strip, in a trial run before it is officially reopened in accordance with an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli Defense Ministry official Peter Lerner was quoted by local daily Ha'aretz as saying.
The trial run was meant to test repairs and improvements made at the border terminal, and the crossing would reopen fully "in the coming days," according to Lerner.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials said some 15 trucks carrying canned food and fruit passed through the crossing on Monday and they were told more would follow on Tuesday.
In June, Egypt brokered a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel to restore calmness and ease the siege that Israel imposed on Gaza to isolate Hamas since 2007.
The ceasefire has largely held, though Gaza militants have occasionally fired rockets into Israel and the Jewish state has periodically closed its borders with the coastal enclave.
Kerem Shalom has been closed since April due to an attack that badly destroyed the facility. At that time, Hamas militants attacked the crossing with three cars loaded with explosives.
The reopening of Kerem Shalom is expected to improve the flow of cargo into Gaza since its capacity is larger than the currently operating Sofa crossing.
(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2008)
