Growing crisis in the Middle East: Families of Israeli hostages demonstrate at border crossing to block aid to Gaza

VideoFamilies of Israelis held hostage in Gaza tried to block aid trucks from entering the territory at the Kerem Shalom border post to push their government to do more to prioritize the return of their loved ones.CreditCredit...Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza demonstrated Thursday at a border crossing in an effort to block entry to the aid to the territory as they take more aggressive steps to push their government to prioritize the return of captives and has put more pressure on Hamas.

Protests at the Kerem Shalom crossing a day earlier had forced more than 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to be redirected to Egypt, the United Nations said. Israeli protesters at the crossing blocked aid trucks for hours on Wednesday, the UN humanitarian affairs office said in its daily update.

Nine trucks managed to pass through the checkpoint in southern Israel, while 114 others were redirected to the Rafah crossing, the update adds.

A total of 153 trucks filled with food, medicine and other supplies entered through the two crossings on Wednesday, according to the United Nations.

Photos taken Thursday at the terminal showed a small group of protesters holding up signs with hostage faces on them. The Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing Persons, the group representing relatives of Israeli hostages kidnapped in Gaza during the Hamas attacks on October 7, said the aim of Thursday's demonstration was to "suspend the help Hamas until all the hostages return. p>

“Our soldiers are fighting in Gaza and we are providing equipment to Hamas,” said Danny Elgarat, whose brother Itzik, 69, was kidnapped at his home on Kibbutz Nir Oz, said in an interview on Israeli television.

“It is simply unacceptable that soldiers put themselves in danger fighting in Gaza and that the terrorists they fight obtain fuel and food. on our part,” said Mr. Elgarat, who said he took part in a protest at the border on Wednesday.

Kerem Shalom is one of two border crossings through which aid enters Gaza; most of it passes through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Relatives of the hostages say preventing aid from reaching Gaza will increase pressure on Hamas to release the hostages.

Mr. Elgarat said in the interview that Hamas militants steal humanitarian supplies entering Gaza and that civilians only get “the leftovers,” a common view in Israel. Hamas officials have denied diverting humanitarian aid. Israel opened the Kerem Shalom crossing in December after state pressure -United to accelerate the flow. humanitarian aid in Gaza, where most of the territory's 2.2 million civilians are suffering from extreme shortages of basic goods and are at risk of starvation. At the time, Israel said it was committed to delivering 200 trucks per day, but the entry rate fell far short of that goal, averaging around 130.

With virtually no commercial goods available in Gaza, its residents depend on aid to survive, international agencies and humanitarian groups say.