Responding to the assassination of a senior terror operative in Gaza, allegedly carried out by Israel, Hamas closed its side of the Erez crossing point into Israel.
The Times of London wrote:
Indeed, Erez is the central point of entry and exit for pedestrians to and from the Gaza Strip. According to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT):
Every day an average of 1,000 Gazan residents enter Israel through Erez Crossing. The vast majority of these people are those in need of medical treatment, but it also includes businessmen, industry professionals, students, individuals going to pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and others. Additionally, Erez is the crossing used by international aid workers, journalists and other internationals to enter Gaza from Israel.
But Erez isn’t the “sole border crossing with Israel” as written by The Times. As COGAT states:
West of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom and south of Egypt’s Rafah Crossing sits Kerem Shalom Crossing. Kerem Shalom is the designated point of entry and exit for equipment and goods from Israel to the Gaza Strip and vice versa. The crossing is managed by the Land Crossings Authority in the Ministry of Defense and the Coordination and Liaison Administration. The CLA coordinates between the different Israeli and Palestinian parties.
In keeping with the policy set by Israel, every day an average of 800 trucks enter the Gaza Strip carrying food, medical equipment, fuel, building materials, agricultural inputs, textile products and more. Representatives of the Palestinian Authority, who then work with the CLA to coordinate logistics and clearance, request the items imported into Gaza.
Why is this important? Aside from a factual error on the part of The Times, the world should know that even if Hamas has closed Erez, Israel has continuously and is still maintaining the entry of huge amounts of aid and materials into Gaza for the benefit of its population.
We contacted The Times to point this out yet the error has not been corrected.
Yet, the following day, another story in The Times also referred to the Erez closure:
This time, the description of Erez is accurate. So someone at The Times was clearly listening. Why then has the correction to the first article not been made?
