(NEWSnet/AP) – Israel says it is taking steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, to include opening a gate along the northern border that has been closed since the start of the war with Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced the plans Friday, hours after President Joe Biden told him that future U.S. support for the war in Gaza depends on Israel taking more action to protect civilians and aid workers.

Israeli military also said Friday that it has dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in drone strikes in Gaza that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers on a food-delivery mission, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the measures the Israeli government has announced are welcome, but may not be enough to meet the Biden administration’s demands for dramatic improvements in humanitarian conditions.

The United Nations says much of the population in northern Gaza is on the brink of starvation. The top U.N. court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies — and the U.N. Security Council has issued a legally binding demand for a cease-fire.

The U.N.’s Human Rights Council also has approved on a resolution calling on countries to stop selling or shipping weapons to Israel.

The war began Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel.

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