The difficulty of meeting the conditions set by Israel and the United States for humanitarian aid to enter the southern Gaza Strip from Egypt (that not a single package ends up in the hands of Hamas, the movement that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and the transition managed). the Palestinian side) has blocked trucks carrying food, water and medicine that are running low in the Palestinian enclave in Sinai for days. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, urgently traveled this Friday first to El Arish airport, designated by Cairo as a logistics center and located 50 kilometers from the border, and later to the Rafah border crossing, to try to unblock the situation . Without quoting them directly, Guterres made it clear in his statement to the media that the aid does not exceed the “conditions and limitations” set by Israel and the United States, since an agreement is already in place and Egypt has removed the obstacles of concrete that had been put in place out of fear of the massive arrival of refugees.
The agreements announced Wednesday between Israel, the United States and Egypt for the entry of aid from Rafah contained “conditions and restrictions,” the UN official recalled. And the United Nations is now “actively working with all parties” to “clarify these conditions and limit these restrictions.” Guterres has stressed that “verification requirements must be effective” so that aid can be provided “practically and quickly.” Also that the UN must have enough fuel (which has been in short supply for days and is prevented from entering the Gaza Strip by Israel) in order to be able to distribute it among the population.
The UN Secretary-General lamented the paradox that there are “two million people suffering enormously” within a few kilometers and considered it “absolutely important” that help arrive “urgently”.
At least 145 trucks are waiting on the Egyptian side of Rafah, loaded with humanitarian aid from Egyptian organizations, explains Ahmed Salem, director of the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, which released images showing two rows of trucks carrying relief supplies parked just outside the gate . In another video from the organization, volunteers appear before the crossing with banners, Egyptian and Palestinian flags and portraits of President Abdel Fattá al Sisi. The rest of the supplies, including those from other countries (such as Jordan and Turkey) and organizations such as the World Health Organization and the European Union, are being stored where Guterres landed, at El Arish airport.
Washington announced that it would allow 20 trucks to enter, but so far this has not happened. The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, assured this Friday that aid could arrive “tomorrow (Saturday) or something like that”. “We are in intensive and advanced negotiations with all relevant parties to ensure that the relief operation for Gaza begins as soon as possible,” Griffiths said, quoted by a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The delay in the agreement was due not only to disagreements over the aid control mechanism, but also to the issue of the departure of people with foreign passports from Gaza, according to the Portal agency.
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The implementation of the agreement has stalled despite the urgency of the situation in Gaza, with a million people displaced and subjected to airstrikes “at a scale not seen in decades,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari explained this Friday , during his daily appearance before the media in Tel Aviv. The pacts between the USA, Israel and Egypt only allow the entry of food, water and medicine. And only for the south of the Gaza Strip, from Rafah. As long as the at least 205 hostages remain trapped in Gaza, there will be no deliveries from Israel.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid at the Rafah border crossing, this Friday. AMR ABDALLAH DALSH (Portal)
Netanyahu had already announced the agreement and made it clear in a statement that Israel will not prevent humanitarian shipments from Egypt “as long as they do not reach Hamas.” “Any shipments reaching Hamas will be prevented,” he added. The southern Gaza Strip is the area where the Israeli army has targeted 1.1 million residents in the north – a decision that has been criticized by the United Nations and humanitarian organizations – and is intended to facilitate the next phase of the offensive: the land invasion .
The US President also emphasized this point during his quick visit to Israel. “If Hamas diverts or steals aid, it will prove once again that it does not care about the well-being of the Palestinian people,” he said initially in Tel Aviv as he unveiled the deal. “If Hamas takes it over or doesn’t let it pass, it’s all over,” he later emphasized to journalists accompanying him on the presidential plane. Hamas (deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union) has a military and a political wing that regulates daily life in Gaza through its ministries, officials and security forces.
On Thursday, at a news conference in Cairo, Guterres again called on Hamas to release the hostages and give Israel “immediate and unrestricted” access to the flow of humanitarian aid. On the same day, the presence of members of Egyptian security authorities increased significantly in anticipation of the opening, says Salem. Work to repair damage caused by the four Israeli bombings at the border crossing has also continued since hundreds of Palestinian militants killed about 1,400 Israelis and kidnapped more than 200 in a massive surprise attack on the 7th.
This is how the Rafah border crossing works
The Rafah border crossing is the funnel through which all humanitarian aid entering Gaza from outside must pass. It is a small, seven meter high gate in the 12.6 kilometer long fence that separates Egypt from the Gaza Strip: Here we explain in detail how it works.
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