CAIRO, Oct 16 (Portal) – The fate of aid deliveries and limited evacuations through the only entry into the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel was in question on Monday after Egyptian sources said a temporary ceasefire had been reached, However, Israel and Hamas said no agreement had been reached.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Cairo on Sunday that the Rafah border crossing between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Gaza would be reopened and that a mechanism for delivering aid would be agreed with Israel.
More than two million people in the Gaza Strip have been under siege since Israel launched an intensive bombardment and blockade in retaliation for an attack by Islamist Hamas militants. Some 600,000 Gazans have been displaced because supplies are running low.
Egypt has said Rafah is closed but has been rendered inoperable by Israeli attacks on the Palestinian side.
Two Egyptian security sources had told Portal that a ceasefire lasting several hours had been agreed in the southern Gaza Strip at 0600 GMT on Monday to allow the entry of aid and limited evacuations of foreign passport holders from Gaza.
However, Israel denied this.
[1/3]A view of trucks carrying humanitarian aid for Palestinians waiting for the reopening of the Rafah border crossing to enter the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the town of Al-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt , October 16, 2023…. Purchase license rights. Read more
“There is currently no ceasefire in Gaza and no humanitarian assistance in return for the departure of foreigners,” said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Hamas official Izzat El-Reshiq also told Portal that media reports that Rafah would be reopened or that there had been a ceasefire were not true.
Egyptian security sources said they were puzzled by the Israeli denial, having previously received confirmation.
A source in Rafah said there was no bombardment on Monday and that the Egyptian side of the border crossing was ready.
Hundreds of tons of aid from NGOs and several countries were waiting on trucks in the nearby Egyptian town of Al-Arish on Monday for permission to enter Gaza, two sources there and an eyewitness told Portal.
A Portal video showed tankers flying UN flags apparently attempting to leave Gaza for Egypt via the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan in Cairo, Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia, Nidal Al Mughrabi in Gaza; Additional reporting by Aidan Lewis and Nadine Awadallah; writing by Tala Ramadan and Nafisa Eltahir; Edited by Jacqueline Wong, Toby Chopra and Andrew Cawthorne
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