It took nearly two weeks of negotiations and a visit by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to the same Egypt-Gaza border post. But this Saturday morning, humanitarian aid began to enter the southern strip for the first time since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7th. As the United Nations Humanitarian Agency (OCHA) reports, there are currently around twenty trucks, far fewer than the needs in the southern Gaza Strip, where their distribution is limited. More than 80% of the Gaza Strip’s population is concentrated there, including those who already lived there and the 700,000 who were displaced from the north on army orders to facilitate the land invasion, according to new data released on Saturday by the military spokesman were published. Daniel Hagari.
The Egyptian Red Crescent trucks transport food, water and medicine. They are the only three shipments allowed entry by Israel and the United States in agreements reached with Egypt on Wednesday, as they face pressure due to the serious humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. However, the United Nations and Gaza authorities consider the convoy to be inadequate, as 450 trucks carrying aid arrived in Gaza every day until the war-related blockade. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the aid received this Saturday represents 3% of what the enclave’s population must receive daily.
It is not clear what will happen from now on. Neither the number of trucks that cross each day nor the opening times of the intersection. Israel and the United States make the entry of aid dependent on it remaining in the south and not falling into the hands of Hamas, which has managed the border crossing and administration of the Gaza Strip with mayors, ministries and tax revenues since 2007. In fact, discrepancies in the goods control mechanism were the main reason why the urgent arrival of aid was postponed by 72 hours. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on “all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open” and “not to interfere with Hamas,” according to a statement.
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Another uncertainty is whether foreigners or Palestinians with a second nationality can leave Gaza. About 400 people of different nationalities are already concentrated on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, hoping to cross an area where Israeli troops plan to remain for months. Earlier in the day, the US Embassy in Jerusalem advised its citizens in Gaza to be vigilant, telling them that the embassy would remain open until 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. Spanish peninsular time). Dozens of people (mainly Palestinians with American citizenship) stood there in vain days ago, and there were no rumors of an imminent opening of Rafah.
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This Saturday, a truck crossed the border in Rafah.IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA (Portal)
“This first convoy must not be the last,” emphasized the UN chief humanitarian coordinator, Martin Griffiths. “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,” he said on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter. Israel bans the importation of fuel and any supplies across its border while the militias have hostages (the number is estimated at at least 210 this Saturday). The Islamist fundamentalist militia assured on Saturday that it would not address the situation of the kidnapped soldiers who were part of that group as long as Israel did not put an end to the “aggression” in the Gaza Strip, said Osama Hamdan, one of its officials from Lebanon. reports the agency. Portal. Gaza needs fuel not only for aid distribution or for scarce road travel, but also for power generators for hospitals and pumps to extract water from wells.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry increased this Saturday the death toll since October 7 to 4,385, of which 1,756 were children. According to the same source, the lack of fuel means that five hospitals are completely out of service, two others are partially out of service and 25 health centers are out of service.
Sánchez with Abbas in Egypt
The Secretary-General of the United Nations stressed at the international war summit taking place this Saturday in Egypt with heads of state and government and representatives from virtually all over the world, on the occasion of the arrival of the first convoy of humanitarian aid: “The people of Gaza need…” one Agreement for much, much more. A continuation of aid deliveries to Gaza at the necessary level. “We are working tirelessly with all parties to make this happen.”
In the opening speech of the meeting, host country President Abdel Fattá al Sisi called for “a roadmap aimed at ending the humanitarian crisis and starting to activate the flow of aid to the Gaza Strip.” The acting president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, who is attending the summit “in Egypt’s new administrative capital, east of Cairo,” met with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. The Spanish president promised to increase Spanish aid to Palestine while expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza. In his speech at the meeting, Sánchez called for protecting Israel from terrorism, helping the Palestinians under attack and opting for the two-state solution.
Aerial view of the convoy of trucks that entered the Gaza Strip this Saturday through the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt. MOHAMMED ABED (AFP)
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