Beginning at the Rafah Crossing, aid trucks start to enter Gaza

On Saturday, a 20-truck Egyptian Red Crescent convoy delivering food, medication, and water started crossing into the embattled Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing, which is under Egypt’s authority.

“Those trucks need to move as quickly as possible in a massive, sustained, and safe way from Egypt into Gaza,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a peace meeting in Cairo on Saturday.

He expressed his gratitude to Egypt for helping to organise the convoy.

“But the people of Gaza need a commitment for much, much more—a continuous delivery of aid to Gaza at the scale that is needed,” he said. “To make it happen, we are working nonstop with all relevant parties.”

In anticipation of the border opening so that aid could be delivered to Gaza’s more than 2 million population, dozens of trucks had been parked near Rafah for several days.

The Egyptian Red Crescent and the United Nations, according to U.N. humanitarian head Martin Griffiths, donated the “life-saving supplies” in the convoy. He said that the UN had given the go-ahead for them to enter Gaza and be met by the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The convoy on Saturday marks the first time aid has been permitted to enter Gaza following the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7 that left almost 1,400 people dead and led to an Israeli air campaign and a complete siege of Gaza. There have been more than 4,000 Palestinian deaths. Israeli ground invasion is currently anticipated in Gaza.

As the United Nations worked with Egypt, Israel, and the United States to clarify the terms and reduce the imposed restrictions, implementation of the agreement for restricted aid to Gaza, which was announced by US President Joe Biden during his visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, was postponed.

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Three of the World Food Program’s trucks were reportedly in the convoy. They transported 60 tonnes of emergency supplies, which included wheat flour, pasta, and canned goods. At or near the Rafah crossing, the WFP has another 930 tonnes of emergency food supplies that are prepared to be delivered into Gaza whenever access is restored.

“Gaza’s conditions are genuinely horrific, and we urgently need this food. The WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said in a written statement that while the convoy of 20 trucks is a significant beginning step, it must only be the first of many.

The World Health Organisation reported that four trucks carrying trauma kits, medications for the management of chronic illnesses, and basic needed medicines and medical supplies were en route to Gaza. More supplies, according to the report, are on their way to Egypt.

The WHO stated in a statement that the supplies presently travelling to Gaza “will hardly begin to address the escalating health needs as hostilities continue to grow.” “A scaled-up and protected aid operation is desperately needed.”

The U.S. Embassy in Israel issued a warning that anyone trying to cross the border into Israel from Gaza when the crossing is open “should expect a potentially chaotic and disorderly environment on both sides of the crossing.”

VOA