Israel restored the Gaza fishing zone to 15 nautical miles and reopened the main commercial crossing at Kerem Shalom despite continuing violent border riots.
“Following a security assessment and approved by the political echelon, it has been decided to expand the fishing zone in the Gaza Strip to 15 nautical miles, as well as to completely open the Kerem Shalom Crossing for the passage of equipment and goods,” the Office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said on Wednesday morning.
Israel typically links the passage of goods at the Kerem Shalom Crossing and the Gaza fishing zone with the absence of violent attacks by Palestinians against Israel, including border riots in which an Israeli soldier was killed last month.
It had closed both Kerem Shalom and the fishing zone during the 11-day war in May, known as Operation Guardian of the Walls, and had not restored them until now.
Jerusalem had also attempted to link the entry of reconstruction material with the release of remains of two soldiers killed in the 2014 war and the return of two civilians still held captive there.
On Wednesday, Israel appeared to have backed away from that demand.
In addition, the Jewish state agreed to expand the amount of water it supplies to the Gaza Strip by an additional five million cubic meters.
It also increased the number of permits issued to Gaza merchants at the Erez pedestrian crossing from 2,000 to 7,000.
“The civilian measures approved by the political echelon are conditional upon the continued preservation of the region’s security stability for the long term, while further expansion of these measures will be examined in accordance with a situational security assessment,” COGAT said.
Gaza has only three land crossings: two controlled by Israel at Kerem Shalom and Erez and one controlled by Egypt at Rafah.
The gestures Israel announced to the coastal enclave are the fourth it has made this month, including approval of a mechanism to renew Qatari assistance to needy families.
Jerusalem has been under pressure from the US to take humanitarian steps to help Gaza. This latest announcement comes a week after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met for the first time with US President Joe Biden.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told foreign reporters in Jerusalem that Israel's goal with Gaza was to maintain calm.
“The only policy interests we have in Gaza, apart from bringing back the two living Israeli citizens that are kept there in captivity and the bodies of the two Israeli soldiers, is to maintain peace,” Lapid said.
“We are not interested in going back to Gaza. We are not interested in going back into Gaza. We just want to make sure
“If Hamas will guarantee peace and quiet, they can also guarantee a functioning economy and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” he said.