Washington announced on Thursday that Israel will reopen an additional crossing into the besieged Gaza Strip, before the deadline set by the U.S. administration for Tel Aviv to increase humanitarian aid for Palestinians ends next week.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, "We have seen Israel take a number of important steps in recent weeks (...) and they are planning to open an additional new crossing at Kissufim in the coming days."

In a letter dated October 13, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin presented a series of demands to Israel that would increase humanitarian aid for Palestinians, giving them 30 days to respond, under the threat of suspending part of U.S. military aid to Israel.

Miller did not specify how the United States will evaluate Israel's compliance with U.S. demands, or when such an assessment will take place when the deadline ends on November 13.

U.S. law requires recipients of U.S. military aid not to refuse or arbitrarily impede the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid.

However, the Biden administration has little room to maneuver after Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election on Tuesday. Trump accuses the outgoing U.S. president of pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Miller emphasized that Israel agreed to have "additional delivery routes within Gaza, which is essential" for distributing humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territory that has been devastated by the ongoing war for over a year.

The letter noted, for example, the necessity for Israel to allow the entry of up to 350 trucks of humanitarian aid daily, to open a fifth crossing into the Palestinian territory, and that the Israeli army should issue evacuation orders for areas in Gaza only in extreme necessity. Approximately 229 trucks managed to enter Gaza on Tuesday, according to Miller.

Displacement of more families

Israeli forces intensified their shelling of the Gaza Strip on Thursday and issued more evacuation orders, leading to a new wave of displacement from the northern part of the territory where Palestinians fear they will not be allowed to return.

Palestinian health officials reported that at least 10 people were killed and many injured in an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced families in the Beach camp in Gaza City.

The Israeli army stated that the strike targeted a command center for Hamas located inside the building that was previously a school run by the United Nations. The army accused Hamas of exploiting civilian facilities for military purposes, a claim the group denies.

As Israeli tanks advanced in Beit Lahia after a month of renewed attacks on the northern territory, dozens of families fled to schools and other shelters for the displaced in Gaza City, bringing with them what they could carry of belongings and food.

One displaced person noted that drones flew overhead to broadcast evacuation orders that Israel also disseminates via social media and voice and text messages to residents' phones.

Palestinian officials say Israel is executing a "plan of ethnic cleansing." Residents report that no aid has entered Jabalia or Beit Lahia or Beit Hanoun since the onset of the Israeli operation on October 5.

The Israeli army claims it had to evacuate Jabalia and began ordering the evacuation of neighboring Beit Lahia on Wednesday to confront Hamas militants, whom it says have reorganized there.

The army denied media reports stating that those evacuated would not be allowed to return to northern Gaza, asserting it still permits the entry of aid into northern Gaza and the Jabalia area, where it mentioned it is engaged in "intense fighting."

The Israeli army added in a statement, "The statement attributed to the Israel Defense Forces over the past 24 hours, which claimed that residents of northern Gaza would not be allowed to return to their homes, is incorrect and does not reflect the aims and values of the Israel Defense Forces."

Later, the army issued new evacuation orders for residents in neighborhoods near and within Gaza City, citing rocket fire from there by Palestinian militants. The new orders include the northern part of the Beach camp and three other neighborhoods in Gaza City.