Photo: Eskinder Debebe/UN
Two weeks after the start of the new conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militia, which threatens to escalate violence in the restive Middle East, the border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip was opened for the entry of the first convoy carrying humanitarian aid in the south of this territory.
About twenty Egyptian Red Crescent trucks carrying food, water and medicine (the only three shipments allowed entry by Israel and the United States in the agreements reached with Egypt last Wednesday) crossed the Rafath border crossing to respond to the serious humanitarian situation were produced in the Gaza Strip, highlights a note in the Spanish newspaper El País.
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A humanitarian convoy of 20 trucks full of vital supplies traveled from Egypt to Gaza.
“The people of Gaza need much more engagement,” he said. @antonioguterres, stressing that the United Nations is working continuously to achieve this. https://t.co/paKhm8M3o8 pic.twitter.com/Pext1x0GA4
– United Nations (@ONU_es) October 21, 2023
Shortly afterwards, the Efe agency confirmed that the border crossing, the only one not under the control of the Israeli authorities, was closed again after the convoy passed on both sides, despite US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s request to send it more help.
The World Health Organization (WHO) clarified in a statement that first aid to Gaza includes trauma medicines and supplies for 1,200 people, as well as portable bags to stabilize up to 235 wounded on site.
It also includes medicines to treat chronic diseases and treatments for 1,500 people, as well as essential medicines and supplies for 300,000 people for three months.
Both the United Nations and Gaza authorities consider this initial shipment to be insufficient because, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, it represents only 3% of the aid – about 450 trucks per day – that the enclave’s population received before the fighting began .
International organizations estimate that around 700,000 people have moved to the south of the Palestinian territory to escape bombings by Israeli forces and the army’s announced invasion of the Gaza Strip.
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No one dares to venture whether there will be new inflows of aid or how frequently they will occur, since the United States and Israel make this possibility conditional on the supplies not ending up in the hands of Hamas, which is on the Palestinian side The Strip has been responsible for transit and administration since 2007.
Inconsistencies in the commodity control mechanism resulted in a delay of almost 72 hours in the delivery of necessary assistance to a population in critical situation.
“This first convoy must not be the last… I am confident that this delivery is the start of a sustained effort to provide the people of Gaza with essential supplies such as food, water, medicine and fuel.” […]. “The people of Gaza have suffered for decades and the international community cannot continue to abandon them,” UN chief humanitarian coordinator Martin Griffiths said on Twitter, according to El País.
Israel, for now, maintains its veto on imports of fuel needed for power generation and pumping water as well as any supplies across the border, while Hamas militias are holding at least 210 of its citizens hostage, according to figures updated by authorities the Hebrew nation.
On the other hand, the Palestinian militia assured this Saturday that it will not negotiate a handover of the Israeli military in its power until the bombings and “aggressions” on its territory have ended.
The Islamist fundamentalist militia assured on Saturday that it would not address the situation of the kidnapped soldiers belonging to this group as long as Israel does not end the “aggression” in the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Health Ministry increased this Saturday the death toll of these attacks since October 7 to 4,385, stressing that 1,756 were children.
The same source quoted by the Spanish newspaper points out that five hospitals in the region are completely out of service due to the lack of fuel. In addition, it maintains two other and 25 health centers, some of which are operational.