Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the first convoy of trucks carrying relief materials entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt today. 20 trucks have entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing. The crossing was opened for the first after it was closed following the Hamas terror attack on Israel on 7 October.
“The relief aid convoy that is supposed to enter today includes 20 trucks that carry medicine, medical supplies, and a limited amount of food supplies (canned goods),” a statement from Hamas’s media office said on Saturday.
Over 200 trucks are waiting near the border for several days waiting to enter Gaza with around 3000 tons of food, water, medicine and other essential items. While aid agencies and other nations were urging Israel to let the aid material enter Gaza, Israel was insisting that Hamas must release the hostages first. However, the Rafah crossing was opened without Hamas meeting the Israeli condition.
The terror group yesterday released two American women, Judith Raanan and her teenage daughter Natalie, but continues to keep over 200 people hostage, including children and elderly people.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had said, “these trucks are not just trucks – they are a lifeline, they are the difference between life and death to many people in Gaza,” urging the border crossing to be opened for humanitarian aid. The crossing was opened after several rounds of negotiations with Israel. The Israeli govt has demanded a mechanism to inspect the aid, and a measure to ensure it does not reach Hamas terrorists.
The aid that reached Gaza today is only a small faction of what is needed. Before the current conflict, around 450 trucks carrying aide materials used to enter Gaza daily from Egypt. U.N. officials say at least 100 trucks daily are needed to cover urgent needs and that any aid operation must be sustainable at scale. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people depend on aid send by international agencies and foreign countries, mostly the Middle Eastern nations.
Rafah is the only border crossing with Gaza that does not border Israel. Earlier, the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel was also used to deliver aids, but now Israel has said that it will not open the crossing until Hamas releases all the hostages it abducted during the 7 October attack.
While trucks have started to move into Gaza, foreign nationals are expected to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing soon. A large number of foreigners are waiting near the border to leave the territory as soon as possible. Earlier, the U embassy in Jerusalem had said that it had received information that the border crossing will be opened at 10 am.
However, the embassy had warned about a “potentially chaotic and disorderly environment on both sides of the crossing,” asking people to assess the situation before heading towards the crossing. “If the border is opened, we do not know how long it will remain open for foreign citizens to depart Gaza,” the US Embassy had added.