People from the Gaza Strip are fleeing to safety into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing. And here, humanitarian aid deliveries are being made – only slowly – into the Hams-controlled area. A report.
The wind from the Sinai desert violently blows the sand on the asphalt runway at El-Arish airport. Men on forklifts battle wind and dust as they unload pallet after pallet from the bellies of five transport planes from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. Aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip are in full swing in North Sinai. There is enough help material. The problem is getting him to Gaza. Nearly 9,000 tonnes of humanitarian supplies are stranded in Egypt. The bottleneck is a half-hour drive from El-Arish airport: the Rafah border crossing, which connects Egypt to the Gaza Strip. It remains the only route through which aid can be transported and injured people can escape. And this is all happening very slowly.
Some stray dogs sat in the sun right next to the gate. Every half hour they are surprised by the horns of some fully loaded trucks, which are driven to the no man’s land between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, where they are unloaded and checked. Relief supplies are then transferred to Palestinian vehicles. Fewer than 1,300 trucks have crossed here since the border was opened to deliver humanitarian aid. For comparison purposes: before the war, the 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip were supplied by 500 to 800 trucks – per day.
»The city where I lived is no longer recognizable. It’s completely destroyed.”
Sama Al-Qinawy, 18, from Gaza
The Egyptian side is not to blame, stresses Dr Mahmoud Amish, who coordinates the delivery of aid and the transport of the injured from the Gaza Strip to the Egyptian Red Crescent. “We have big problems. But from our side I can say that our border is open and that Red Crescent volunteers are ready for anything.”
Baby rescue operation
Each delivery must be approved by Israel.