Tel Aviv: Israeli agency COGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories: Judea and Samaria and towards the Gaza Strip) on Friday said they facilitated 1,000 units of blood in Gaza in coordination with an international organisation. COGAT said the blood units were designated for the Nasser Hospital in Southern Gaza.


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In a post on X, COGAT said, "1,000 units of blood entered Gaza yesterday (Nov 14) in coordination with an international organization. The blood units are designated for the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, to support hospital operations and ongoing treatments. Over the last few months, over 6,000 units of blood were facilitated into Gaza. We continuously facilitate medical and humanitarian responses for the civilian population in Gaza."


Shimon Freedman, the International Spokesperson for COGAT, said, "The IDF through COGAT is continuing to expand our capacity to facilitate humanitarian aid to all parts of the Gaza Strip. Over the past several weeks, extensive efforts have been made to establish a new, 5th crossing between Israel and Gaza- the Kissufim crossing. The preparations included paving roads on both- the Israeli and Gazab side of the border, to ease the entry and increase the flow of aid to Southern Gaza and the humanitarian zone. Today the first convoy of trucks carrying food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment entered through the new Kissufim crossing. Following the successful pilot, we will be expanding the amount of trucks per convoy in the coming days. The opening of the case of crossing is a part of Israel ongoing commitment to facilitating the entry of aid to whenever it is needed, because we know that our war is with Hamas, not the people of Gaza."


On November 12, the Kissufim crossing was opened by COGAT. In a post on X, it stated, "A new humanitarian aid crossing Into Gaza - the Kissufim crossing - started operating today. This is part of our effort and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid to Gaza. The aid enters Gaza after security checks at the Kerem Shalom Crossing."


Kissufim is a small border crossing into southern Gaza near Kibbutz Kissufim, one of the sites attacked by Hamas in its terror assault on Israel on October 7, 2023 that sparked the crisis, VOA reported.


The opening came as the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in a letter delivered on October 13 gave Israel 30 days to boost its humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza or face the possibility of cuts in US military aid, as per VOA. The letter called for Israel to enable a minimum of 350 trucks a day to enter Gaza through four crossings and to open a fifth humanitarian entry point.