Cornered Israel to open new aid routes into Gaza

Israel will allow "temporary" aid deliveries via its border with the northern Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced Friday, hours after a warning from US President Joe Biden.

"Israel will allow the temporary delivery of humanitarian aid through Ashdod and the Erez checkpoint," the statement from the prime minister's office said, referring to a port about 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Gaza and a land crossing.

"This increased aid will prevent a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war," it added.

The announcement comes as international pressure mounts on Israel after it took responsibility for a strike that killed seven employees of US-based charity World Central Kitchen.

In a tense, 30-minute call with Netanyahu on Thursday, Biden described the Israeli strike as "unacceptable and called for an "immediate ceasefire".

He also "made clear that US policy" will be determined by Israel taking "specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers", according to a White House statement.

Directly after Israel's announcement, the White House welcomed the moves to "increase aid flow to Gaza", and called for them to be "fully and rapidly implemented".

Gaza has been under Israeli blockade since the start of the war, with the United Nations accusing Israel of preventing humanitarian aid deliveries and warning of "catastrophic" levels of hunger.

Israel has denied throttling aid deliveries.

The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 33,037 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

According to Friday's statement, the Israeli authorities will also allow "increased Jordanian aid through Kerem Shalom", a border crossing in southern Israel.

Spanish NGO halts aid work

he Spanish NGO Open Arms, which with World Central Kitchen chartered the first boat that arrived in Gaza on a special sea corridor from Cyprus, suspended its operation after the deaths of seven aid workers in an Israeli air strike.

Open Arms, whose ship returned to the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Wednesday, condemned the deaths of the World Central Kitchen workers as "an incomprehensible act of violence".

The workers were moving food and supplies sent in a second shipload from Cyprus when their convoy was attacked on Monday.

"With the arrival yesterday of the Open Arms boat in Larnaca, Cyprus, the mission in the humanitarian corridor to the Gaza Strip with World Central Kitchen is suspended following the devastating attack suffered by the convoy," Open Arms said in a statement.

The NGO, which said 200 tonnes of food and supplies were delivered in the first shipment in March, expressed sorrow over the deaths.

"We demand answers and accountability for this unacceptable attack," Open Arms director Oscar Camps said in the statement.

World Central Kitchen, founded by Spanish-American celebrity chef Jose Andres, has suspended its work in Gaza because of the attacks. These have increased pressure on Israel over its treatement of Gaza's civilian population.

Israel has expressed regret over the attack and promised a transparent inquiry.

But major international aid groups have said it is now nearly impossible to work in Gaza, where Israel launched its military operation in response to the Hamas attacks on October 7.

The attacks resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign to destroy Hamas has killed at least 33,037 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the Palestinian territory.