AFP journalists saw 20 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, responsible for delivering aid from various UN agencies, pass through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt on Saturday, the first trucks to get into Gaza in over a week. The convoys deliver essentials such as blankets, baby formula, canned food, and medicine. It’s part of a massive effort by the United Nations to get life-saving aid into Gaza before it runs out. After weeks of diplomatic wrangling between Israel, Egypt, and the United States over conditions allowing them to enter the Palestinian enclave, the trucks began moving.
The trucks are bringing life-saving medical supplies and electricity generators, which are desperately needed to power hospital equipment amid a territory-wide blackout. “Without access to energy, medical facilities will stop functioning, and many of the most critically ill patients, including babies who have only just begun to live, will probably die,” World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned in a New York Times guest essay Tuesday. He says he’s hopeful more aid will be delivered once the crossing opens.
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Israel has closed the Rafah crossing since it began bombing Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Wrangling over conditions has prevented the crossing from reopening, with Israel demanding a mechanism to inspect aid and Western governments pushing to evacuate foreign passport holders in Gaza.
Palestinian civil society groups say far more significant aid is needed to deal with the resulting crisis. They are calling for reopening the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings into the densely populated enclave. They’re urging the international community to pressure Israel to end its blockade of the coastal enclave of 2.4 million people, which has resulted in food and water shortages, a sewage crisis, and a near-total power outage.
The United Nations’ top diplomat, Antonio Guterres, addressed the crisis Friday at a summit in Cairo. He described Gaza as living through a “godawful nightmare” with thousands dead and millions displaced. He urged the international community to take steps to ease the plight of Palestinians and to demand “action to end this godawful nightmare.”
The summit came as Israeli and Palestinian leaders met in Jerusalem for talks to reach a lasting truce. The meeting was the latest attempt to end a conflict that has raged for three weeks. The United Nations has said Israel must halt its airstrikes on Gaza, and Hamas must cease attacks in return for a lasting ceasefire. But it has been clear for months that neither side will give up easily.
