The border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip opened on Saturday to allow in desperately needed humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, for the first time since Israel isolated the territory after the bloody assault of Hamas two weeks ago.
Only 20 trucks were allowed in, a number that health workers said was insufficient to address the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Loop. More than 200 trucks carrying approximately 3,000 tons of aid have been parked near the border crossing for days.
The enclave’s 2.3 million residents, half of whom have fled their homes, are rationing food and drinking contaminated water. Hospitals say they are running out of medical supplies and fuel for their emergency generators amid a nationwide blackout.
Israel continues to launch waves of airstrikes on Loop that have destroyed entire neighborhoods, while Palestinian fighters launch volleys of rockets into Israeli territory.
The opening of the crossing occurs after more than a week of high-level diplomacy by several mediators, including visits to the region by the president of the United States, Joe Bidenand the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres.
Israel had insisted that nothing would enter Loop until Hamas release all the hostages he took in his October 7 attack in southern Israel.
On Friday night, Hamas freed an American woman and her teenage daughter. It was not immediately clear if there was any relationship between the release and the aid deliveries. Israel He said Hamas still holds at least 210 people hostage.
On Saturday morning, an Associated Press journalist on the Palestinian side of Rafah saw the 20 trucks heading north to Deir al-Balah, a quiet farming town where many evacuees from the north have taken refuge. Gaza Strip. Hundreds of people with foreign passports in Rafah hoping to escape the conflict were not allowed to leave the Gaza Strip.
The trucks carried 44,000 bottles of drinking water from the agency. UN for children, enough for 22,000 people for a single day, he said. “This first and limited water will save lives, but the needs are immediate and immense,” declared the general director of the UNICEFCatherine Russell.
The World Health Organization said four of the 20 trucks that crossed through Rafah were carrying medical supplies, including essential items for 300,000 people for three months, medicines and trauma supplies for 1,200 people, and 235 portable trauma bags for rescuers.
“The situation is catastrophic in Gaza,” said the director of the World Food Program of the UN, Cindy McCain, to The Associated Press. “We need many, many, many more trucks and a continuous flow of aid,” she said, adding that some 400 trucks entered Gaza daily before the war.
The government of Loop controlled by Hamas also said that limited aid delivery “will not be able to change the human catastrophe,” and called for a safe corridor that operates 24 hours a day.
For his part, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, Israeli military spokesman, indicated that “the humanitarian situation in Gaza is under control” and noted that the aid will be distributed in the south of the territory — where the army ordered the population to be relocated — and that it will not fuel will enter.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on all sides to keep the crossing open so much-needed aid shipments could be brought in and warned Hamas not to take any of the aid.
“Palestinian civilians are not responsible for Hamas’ terrible terrorism and should not suffer for its depraved acts,” Blinken said in a statement. “As the president pointed out Biden“If Hamas steals or diverts this aid it will have demonstrated once again that it has no regard for the well-being of the Palestinian people.” It will also make it harder for aid to continue flowing, he added.
Guterres, meanwhile, gave voice to growing international concern for civilians in Loopsaying at a summit in Cairo that Hamas’ “reprehensible assault” on Israel two weeks ago “can never justify collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
Two Egyptian officials and a European diplomat said extensive negotiations with Israel and the UN to allow the supply of fuel to hospitals had yielded few results to date. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information about the sensitive deliberations.
An Egyptian official said they were discussing the release of dual national hostages in exchange for fuel, but that Israel He insisted on the release of all the hostages.
Hamas released Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie on Friday on what it said were humanitarian grounds under an agreement with Qatarthe Persian Gulf nation that often acts as a mediator in Middle East. A representative for the two women said they were staying with relatives in downtown Israel.
Mother and daughter had traveled from the Chicago suburbs, where they live, to Israel to celebrate the Jewish holidays, their family said. They were at the Nahal Oz kibbutz near Gaza when fighters from Hamas and other groups entered towns in southern Israel, killing hundreds of people and kidnapping at least 210 more.
Hamas indicated that it was working with Egypt, Qatar and other mediators “to close the case” of the hostages if security circumstances permit.
Meanwhile, expectations are growing of a ground offensive that, according to Israel, would aim to eradicate the insurgent group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years. Israel said Friday it does not plan to take long-term control of the small, densely populated Palestinian territory.
Israel has also exchanged fire with the Lebanese insurgent group Hezbollah on its northern border, raising concerns about the possible opening of a second front. The Israeli military indicated Saturday that it hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in response to recent rocket fire and anti-tank missile attacks.
“Hezbollah has decided to participate in the fighting, and we are demanding a high price for this,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to the border.
Source: Gestion
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