Protesters block aid trucks at Kerem Shalom crossing
Hundreds of protesters, including families of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Israelis who have been displaced by the war, blocked a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid at the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Wednesday and prevented them from crossing into the Palestinian enclave.
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"No aid goes through until the last of the hostages returns, don't supply the enemy," said the protesters, among them families of IDF soldiers who fell in battle in Gaza and reservists who were released from service in Gaza.
According to the protesters, some of them bypassed police checkpoints on the way to the border crossing through nearby fields and made dozens of trucks "bound for Hamas" turn back.
Tzufit Liebman, the sister-in-law of Elyakim Liebman who worked as a security guard at the Nova music festival and was kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, arrived at the crossing Wednesday morning and expressed her dismay with the entry of aid into Gaza while Israeli hostages were subjected to harsh conditions in captivity. "I came here to protest the terrible injustice that the hostages receive half a piece of bread a day at best. We don't even know if our Elyakim is alive," she said.
"We believe and hope that he is alive, but we have not received any signs of life from him and, on the other hand, the Hamas terrorists and the civilians who cover up the crime and do not give any information about the hostages receive convoys of trucks with food, equipment and medicine. We will continue to come here until our hostages return home."
Security Cabinet ministers approved the introduction of aid to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing on December 15 under heavy international pressure after Israel only allowed aid to enter the Hamas-ruled territory from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing for the first two months of the war.
On January 9, a group of families of hostages tried to similarly block the entry of aid into Gaza but was stopped by police.
First published: 13:55, 01.24.24