Israel and the European Union have agreed upon “significant steps” to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip “in the coming days,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced Thursday.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar confirmed the agreement, saying the security cabinet decided last Sunday on measures “to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” including “more trucks, more crossings, and more routes for the humanitarian efforts.”

Speaking alongside Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephu, Sa’ar thanked his counterparts “for the fruitful dialogue that we are conducting — with you and the EU — on the humanitarian issue.”

The discussions are “based on an understanding of human needs and of the threat that Hamas and the Gaza Strip have posed to Israel over the past 20 years,” added Sa’ar, saying, “this dialogue is important and it will continue.”

The announcements by Sa’ar and Kallas confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg, which said that a deal had been reached enabling the reopening of several aid corridors, including humanitarian routes through Egypt and Jordan, and several other crossing points in northern and southern Gaza.

“These measures are or will be implemented in the coming days, with the common understanding that aid at scale must be delivered directly to the population and that measures will continue to be taken to ensure that there is no aid diversion to Hamas,” Kallas said.

According to the top European diplomat, the agreement will see a “substantial increase” in the daily entry of trucks supplying food and non-food items; the opening of several crossing points in northern and southern Gaza; the reopening of humanitarian routes through Egypt and Jordan; resumed operations of bakeries and public kitchens in Gaza; resumed fuel deliveries to humanitarian facilities “up to an operational level”; security for aid workers; and reparations on works for “vital infrastructure like the resumption of the power supply to the water desalination facility.”

“The EU stands ready to coordinate with all relevant humanitarian stakeholders, United Nations agencies and NGOs on the ground, to ensure swift implementation of those urgent steps,” added Kallas, adding that the EU “calls again for an immediate ceasefire” and release of all hostages.

Since late May, Israel has handed authority over aid distribution in Gaza to the Israel- and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in a stated effort to prevent aid supplies from reaching Hamas. The GHF’s operations have been strongly criticized by the international community for failing to address the humanitarian needs in Gaza.

It is unclear under which bodies the expanded aid measures will be operated.

The EU has been increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza amid Israel’s war against Hamas, which began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took 251 hostages.

Israel has said that it respects international law and that operations in Gaza are necessary to destroy Hamas.

The EU is Israel’s biggest commercial partner, with 42.6 billion euros ($48.2 billion) traded in goods in 2024. Trade in services reached 25.6 billion euros in 2023.

More than 100 aid groups and other organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, last month urged Brussels to suspend the EU-Israel association agreement “at least in part.”

Spain has also called for the agreement to be suspended, while Germany has come out against such a move.

Suspending the EU-Israel accord outright would require unanimity among member states — something diplomats have said from the outset was virtually impossible.

Halting diplomatic dialogue with Israel — a measure that was already rejected last year — also requires backing from all EU countries.

Trade measures could instead be adopted with a qualified majority, diplomats have said, cautioning, however, that agreeing on those might also prove tricky.

Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.