UN aid chief says 'promising signs' in talks to open Gaza crossing

The Kerem Shalom crossing was used to carry more than 60% of the truckloads going into Gaza before this conflict. Aid currently being allowed into Gaza comes through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, which was designed for pedestrian crossings and not trucks.

United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday there were promising signs that the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel could soon be opened to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

"We're still negotiating, and with some promising signs at the moment," Griffiths told reporters in Geneva. "There are promising signs now that that may be able to open soon." If that were to happen, Griffiths said it would represent a major boost for humanitarian operations seeking more access to the densely populated enclave, which has been widely devastated by Israeli bombardment in the two-month-old

Israel-Hamas war .

"It would be the first miracle we've seen for some weeks, but would also be a huge boost to the logistical process and logistical base of a humanitarian operation," he said about the possible opening of Kerem Shalom. The Kerem Shalom crossing was used to carry more than 60% of the truckloads going into Gaza before this conflict.

Aid currently being allowed into Gaza comes through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, which was designed for pedestrian crossings and not trucks. Griffiths said both Israel and Egypt, states affected by the opening of the crossing, had become much more open to the idea of reviving the Kerem Shalom route.

He said the warring parties were more willing to open the crossing "probably not in one go, but certainly gradually."

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