Gaza Aid Crosses Border After Diplomatic Efforts

After Israel closed it off following Hamas's violent rampage two weeks ago, the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened on Saturday, allowing a trickle of urgently needed aid into the embattled Palestinian region.

Aid workers claimed that the 20 trucks that were permitted entry were insufficient to handle Gaza's severe humanitarian catastrophe. For days, more than 200 trucks delivering almost 3,000 tonnes of supplies had been parked close to the crossing.

Palestinians in Gaza number 2.3 million, half of whom have fled their homes, and they are forced to ration food and drink contaminated water. In the midst of a widespread power outage, hospitals claim they are running low on medical supplies and fuel for emergency generators.

While Palestinian insurgents fire barrages of rockets into Israel, Israel continues to launch waves of airstrikes across Gaza that have completely destroyed entire neighborhoods.

The breakthrough occurred following more than a week of intense diplomatic efforts by a number of mediators, including trips to the area by US Vice President Joe Biden and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Israel had demanded that nothing would enter Gaza until Hamas freed every prisoner from their onslaught on southern Israeli communities on October 7.

The first prisoners to be freed were an American mother and her adolescent daughter, who were released by Hamas late on Friday.

If there was a relationship between the release and the assistance shipments, it was unclear right away. Israel claims that Hamas is still imprisoning at least 210 people.

An Associated Press correspondent on the Palestinian side of Rafah witnessed the 20 trucks on their way to Deir al-Balah on Saturday morning. Deir al-Balah is a sleepy farming community where many people who have fled the north have found refuge. At Rafah, hundreds of people with foreign passports who wanted to flee the fighting were denied exit.

According to the UN agency for children, the trucks were transporting 44,000 bottles of drinking water, enough for 22,000 people for a whole day.

"This first, limited water will save lives, but the needs are immediate and immense," said Catherine Russell, executive director of Unicef.

According to the World Health Organization, four of the 20 trucks that crossed the Rafah border were transporting medical supplies, including 235 portable trauma bags for first responders, trauma medicine and supplies for 1,200 individuals, and essentials for 300,000 people for three months.

According to Cindy McCain, chief of the UN World Food Programme, "the situation in Gaza is catastrophic."

She added that before the war, 400 trucks would enter Gaza each day, saying, "We need many, many, many more trucks and a continuous flow of aid."

The Gazan administration, which is ruled by Hamas, added that the small convoy "will not be able to change the humanitarian catastrophe" and called for a safe passageway that is open constantly.

According to Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, "the humanitarian situation in Gaza is under control."

He added that no fuel would enter the region and that the supplies would only be sent to southern Gaza, where the army had issued a relocation order.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged all parties to maintain the bridge open so that vital humanitarian supplies could pass through, and he warned Hamas not to accept the aid.

In a statement, he added that Palestinian people "are not accountable for Hamas's horrifying terrorism, and they should not be made to suffer for its depraved acts."

As President Biden said, "Hamas will have once again shown that it has no regard for the welfare of the Palestinian people if it steals or diverts this assistance.

people."

It will also be difficult to keep the aid coming, according to Blinken.

By stating at a conference in Cairo that Hamas's "reprehensible assault" on Israel two weeks ago "can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people," Guterres gave voice to growing international concern over civilians in Gaza.

A European diplomat and two Egyptian officials claimed that lengthy talks with Israel and the UN to permit fuel delivery to hospitals had made little headway.

They agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details of the delicate discussions.

One Egyptian official claimed that although Israel insisted on the release of all prisoners, they were contemplating the release of dual-national detainees in exchange for the fuel.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed