The Rafah border crossing, which connects the north of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula with the Gaza Strip, finally opened its doors this Saturday to allow the entry of humanitarian aid shipments into the Palestinian enclave, according to witnesses and local media. and the UN.
The United Nations humanitarian agency, OCHA, confirmed this Saturday that 20 trucks with food, water and medicine entered the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, through the Rafah crossing, bordering Egypt.
The deputy director of the OCHA Office in the Palestinian territories, Andrea De Domenico, has assured that the Egyptian Red Cross is leading the operation to bring assistance into the Palestinian enclave.
Hundreds of volunteers and trucks are lining up to access the strip, although the Egyptian government channel Al Qahera News has indicated that about 20 trucks are “passing through the crossing, transporting food, medical supplies, medicines and humanitarian aid.”
This figure coincides, for the moment, with the one offered this week by the president of the United States, Joe Biden, who stated that the first batch of trucks to cross the pass, the only one that is not controlled by Israel, would be about 20 trucks of aid.
The Qatari channel Al Jazeera has stated that “a total of five trucks of the total of 20 that will be able to access the strip this Saturday have already been unloaded.” From the Egyptian part of Rafah, volunteers have commented that no ambulances or fuel trucks have entered and that the aid is provided by the Egyptian Red Crescent and NGOs that are part of the government coalition National Alliance for Civil Development.
However, the deputy director of the OCHA Office has admitted that this aid is not enough for the 2.3 million people living in Gaza, of whom 1.4 million, according to OCHA, are internally displaced by Israel's bombings. in the northern part of the Strip. De Domenico has indicated that there are “negotiations” between the parties concerned so that the delivery of aid is “sustainable” over time.
Images broadcast by the private Egyptian network ExtraNews show dozens of volunteers applauding and cheering with joy, after days of waiting to access the Palestinian enclave, while Egyptian workers worked to restore the pavement damaged by Israeli bombings, which did not allow access. until now.
Al Sisi announces an agreement for a “continued” opening
The president of Egypt, Abdel Fattá al Sisi, urged this Saturday to establish a roadmap so that aid to Gaza continues to flow through the Rafah crossing, which was opened this morning, and the “humanitarian crisis” in the area ends. Palestinian enclave.
In the opening speech of the Peace Summit in the region held in the New Administrative Capital of Egypt, east of Cairo, and in which leaders and ministers from practically all over the world participate, Al Sisi made a call for the reactivation of the peace process in the Middle East based on the negotiation of an immediate ceasefire between both sides.
Thus, he noted that attendees are meeting to “reach a roadmap with the aim of ending the humanitarian crisis and beginning to activate the flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.”
“I want to make it clear to the world that this crisis will not be resolved without a fair solution. Today we begin to work to agree on a roadmap to reactivate the peace process; one that will begin with an immediate ceasefire leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Al Sisi said.
In his same speech, the president hinted that the reopening of the Rafah crossing this Saturday could take on a more definitive character in the coming hours or days following an agreement reached with the president of the United States, Joe Biden.
This “continued” reopening, in his words, would remain under the supervision of the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent (which is in charge of the direct distribution of aid), according to the Egyptian president, waiting to determine what It happens with the hundreds of people awaiting transit to Egypt from the Palestinian side of the crossing.
As his Foreign Ministry did yesterday, Al Sisi has assured that his country has never closed the passage of its own will.. The Egyptian Government has denounced Israeli attacks against the crossing and denounced, as the president did again this Saturday, the “forced displacement” of civilians that Israel is causing on the Gazan population.
The Rafah crossing, in the south of Gaza and bordering Egypt, is the only exit to the outside of the Strip, since the rest of the border crossings it has are with Israel.
The opening of the Rafah border crossing occurs on the same day that the New Administrative Capital of Egypt, 50 kilometers southeast of Cairo, hosts an international summit headed by the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al Sisi, and in which Leaders from all over the world participate.
Among those attending is the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres; the acting president of Spain, Pedro Sánchez; the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas; and the Jordanian king, Abdullah II.