The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is doing “everything we can” to get aid into the Gaza Strip, a spokesperson says, while defending the actions of troops in the territory.
“We’re opening up more crossings, [letting in] more trucks, to move them into the Gaza Strip,” IDF spokesman Lt Col Richard Hecht earlier told the BBC.
He explained that all trucks entering the enclave needed to be checked for security purposes.
Humanitarian assistance is desperately needed in Gaza, aid agencies warn, after Israel shut its border crossings after 7 October, preventing the usual supplies of food, water, fuel and medicine from entering.
Some aid has entered through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, but this has not been enough. Israel has agreed to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza in the coming days.
Asked about the IDF’s actions in Gaza - where officials from the Hamas-run health ministry say more than 17,400 people have been killed - Lt Col Hecht said the IDF was "doing everything we can to get civilians out of harm's way".
