EU official to arrive in Israel to coordinate humanitarian aid in Gaza

By ELANA KIRSH, JPOST.COM STAFF
A European Commission official is set to arrive in Israel in the coming days, in order to coordinate transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza. According to a European Union statement released Thursday, the liaison officer will coordinate with Israeli authorities in order to provide food, clean drinking water, medical assistance and shelter to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Simon Horner, a spokesman for the Commission's humanitarian aid department ECHO, stressed that EU humanitarian aid was "always independent and impartial." Meanwhile, the IDF halted operations in Gaza for three hours on Thursday afternoon, in order to allow Gazans to receive humanitarian supplies. Three hundred Palestinians with foreign passports were also allowed to leave the Strip.