BRUSSELS: Israel has agreed to 'significant steps' to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, Kaja Kallas, said on Thursday.
In a statement, Kallas said Israel has agreed to a substantial increase of aid trucks entering Gaza on a daily basis, the opening of several additional border crossing points and the reopening of aid routes, as well as enabling the distribution of food supplies including through bakeries and public kitchens.
Additional measures include the resumption of fuel deliveries for use by humanitarian facilities, the protection of aid workers and the repair of vital infrastructure, including power and water supply facilities.
"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 said.
There was initially no confirmation from the Israeli government.
"We count on Israel to implement every measure agreed," Kallas wrote in a separate post on the social media platform X.
Further details, including on the agreed volume of daily aid deliveries, were not available.
The war in Gaza was triggered by the attack on Israel by Hamas and other organisations in October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage.
EU member states have increased their pressure on the Israeli government in recent weeks over the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
An EU internal review into whether Israel still adheres to the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which stipulates that relations between the parties are based on respect for human rights, caused friction between the bloc's member states and Israel.
The review found that Israel's conduct in the Gaza Strip — particularly its restrictions on humanitarian aid — does not align with those principles.
According to the United Nations and international aid organisations, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic.
Organisations are warning of food shortages and a lack of medical supplies in the embattled territory. There have been repeated reports of looting of warehouses or lorries carrying aid supplies.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), backed by Israel and the United States, is currently responsible for the distribution of aid.
It started operations in May after an almost three-month Israeli blockade of humanitarian deliveries to the Gaza Strip.
The foundation is controversial, with repeated fatal incidents reported at distribution sites. — dpa
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