JERUSALEM/UNITED NATIONS/RAMALLAH/ANKARA - Israel said on Wednesday it has reopened the Zikim crossing to allow humanitarian aid trucks into northern Gaza.

"Today, the Zikim crossing has been opened for the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into the Gaza Strip," said a statement from the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a body under Israel's Defense Ministry responsible for carrying out the government's civilian and humanitarian policies in the Palestinian territories.

The statement added that the aid would be delivered by the United Nations and international organizations after undergoing "thorough security inspections" by the Land Crossings Authority of the Defense Ministry, and that the move followed a "directive of the political echelon."

Meanwhile, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday that Israel has announced it is reopening the Zikim crossing into the north of the Gaza Strip.

"Overnight, Israeli authorities informed the UN that the Zikim crossing, between Israel and northern Gaza, will reopen for humanitarian cargo," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

OCHA said the United Nations has, in recent weeks, been repairing the road leading up to Zikim from inside Gaza in preparation for the reopening and to enable the resumption of cargo collection. It has begun final checks, including on potential unexploded ordnance.

The office said the authorities reported that incoming cargo will need to be scanned outside Zikim, offloaded from Israeli trucks, and reloaded on a separate day onto Palestinian trucks for distribution in Gaza.

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OCHA said partners managing displacement sites in Gaza report that people continue to move from southern Gaza to the north, with approximately 4,000 movements recorded over the past week. While the distribution of shelter and winter supplies is scaling up, the needs remain vast.

The office said that as humanitarians continue to scale up assistance -- with the commercial sector and bilateral assistance further supporting the response -- market prices for basic commodities are gradually stabilizing. At the same time, OCHA partners continue to provide critical cash voucher assistance, with 66,000 cash transfers since the ceasefire came into effect last month.

Travel ban

Israeli authorities are preventing dozens of families of Palestinian prisoners deported to Egypt from traveling from the West Bank, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Club Abdullah al-Zaghari said Wednesday.

Describing the Israeli move as "a systematic policy of collective punishment," Al-Zaghari said some of the prisoners are suffering from severe health conditions and are in dire need of continuous medical care and the presence of their families.

He urged relevant parties to stop the Israeli move, noting that several issues related to the deportees' fate remain unclear, including the possibility of their resettlement in other countries.

Israel deported 383 prisoners to Egypt this year as part of its prisoner-hostage exchange deal with Hamas, and most have remained there since their release, al-Zaghari said in a press statement.

Israel required that Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis must be permanently deported if released under the Gaza ceasefire agreement and will not be allowed to return to their homes in the occupied West Bank.

So far, Israeli authorities have not commented on the alleged ban.

Lasting ceasefire

Hamas has shown readiness to take constructive steps toward a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday, urging Israel to adopt the same approach to make peace possible.

"Hamas is showing its willingness to take constructive steps to ensure the ceasefire is permanent. Israel should have the same understanding," Fidan said at a joint press conference in the Turkish capital with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

Fidan said Gaza is an inseparable part of Palestine and must be treated as such by the international community.

He also announced that a Turkish humanitarian aid ship had departed from the port of Mersin for Egypt's El Arish Port to deliver supplies to Gaza, and confirmed that Türkiye would participate in the upcoming Gaza Conference, hosted by Egypt.

On Gaza's postwar future, Fidan said discussions were underway at the UN Security Council to define the mandate of a proposed international stabilization force. "There is a need to clarify the duties of this force and the legal and political framework for the Palestinian Committee and Peace Council expected to govern Gaza," he said.

Abdelatty, for his part, said Egypt and Türkiye agreed to work together to secure the ceasefire and advance the peace process. He said both countries support the diplomatic efforts led by Qatar and the United States to make the truce permanent and reaffirmed their backing for a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.

The ceasefire that took effect on Oct 10 has stopped full-scale fighting but remains fragile. Isolated incidents of violence continue, with both sides accusing each other of undermining the agreement. Critical issues, including Hamas disarmament and postwar governance, remain unresolved, leaving the path forward uncertain.