The Zikim Crossing opened Wednesday morning to allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, in accordance with the approval of Israel’s political echelon.
The aid will be transferred by the UN and international organizations, allegedly following a security inspection to be carried out by the Defense Ministry’s Land Crossings Authority.
Zikim Crossing’s opening follows Hamas’ continued and consistent violation of the ceasefire agreement, which demands return of the bodies of hostages who were murdered.
The bodies of four hostages are still held in Gaza: Staff Sergeant Ran Gvili, Meni Godard, Dror Or, and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.
In addition to the return of the hostages’ bodies, the ceasefire demands that Hamas cease threats and attacks on IDF troops – a demand by which the terror group consistently refuses to abide. In most instances, the IDF is able to beat back the terrorists and prevent casualties to the Israeli troops; however, last month Master Sergeant (Res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum was killed in a clash with Hamas terrorists who emerged from a terror tunnel in the Jenina neighborhood of Rafah, violating the ceasefire.
Security officials stated that the clash occurred during an IDF engineering operation targeting terror tunnels. As the forces began to strike a central section of the tunnel, terrorists emerged and opened fire – including RPG fire – on the troops.