The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli military body responsible for management in the Palestinian areas, announced this Thursday the temporary closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, due to the celebration of Rosh Hashaná, the Jewish New Year, this Sunday.
"Due to the Jewish New Year, the Kerem Shalom crossing will be closed this Sunday, September 13. Starting from the 13th, the crossings will continue to operate with a stable volume to meet the needs identified by the international community, with hundreds of aid trucks entering Gaza daily," it was noted in a message disseminated on social media.
At the same time, the Israeli National Security Council released an update last Sunday on its warning about "terrorist threats" directed against Israelis and Jews abroad, coinciding with the start of the Jewish holiday period, which begins this weekend with Rosh Hashaná and concludes three weeks later with the holiday of Sucot.
In this warning, the authorities emphasized that Iran and its partners — the Shiite militia party Hezbollah, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and other armed Palestinian factions — along with the jihadist groups Islamic State and Al Qaeda, are highly "motivated" to carry out attacks against Israeli and Jewish interests and citizens on an international scale.
This update of the alert is framed in a climate of great tension, coinciding with the approach of the third anniversary of the attacks launched by Palestinian militias on October 7, 2023. At the beginning of the month, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned of the possibility of a new offensive, recalling that, according to his words, Tehran and its allies "like to attack during Jewish holidays because they hate Jews."