Ismailia, Egypt: On Sunday, convoys of vital humanitarian aid assembled near Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip faced a distressing standstill as they were unable to enter the Palestinian enclave, which continues to be subjected to Israeli bombardment, according to eyewitnesses.
The Rafah crossing, the sole entry and exit point for Gaza not under Israeli control, has remained closed since Tuesday. This closure came in the wake of three Israeli airstrikes targeting the Palestinian border post within a span of 24 hours.
Saturday brought news of an agreement between Egypt and Israel, permitting American citizens to leave Gaza via Rafah. However, Egypt imposed conditions on this arrangement, rejecting the notion of designating the crossing exclusively for foreigners, as reported by Egyptian news channel Al-Qahera News, which maintains ties to Egyptian intelligence agencies.
The Egyptian stance emphasized the necessity for aid to reach Gaza, especially given the growing concerns regarding essential supply shortages in the blockaded territory. Witnesses on Sunday observed concrete barriers, installed by the Egyptians to bolster the border in response to Israeli bombings, still in place, hinting at no immediate passage opening.
Shipments of aid from Jordan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, along with crucial medical supplies provided by the World Health Organization to serve 300,000 people, had already arrived at El Arish airport, situated 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Rafah. Egypt itself dispatched a convoy of 100 transport trucks carrying 1,000 tonnes of aid.
Israel, which exercises control over the other two crossing points into Gaza, has imposed a “complete siege” on the Palestinian coastal enclave, severely limiting access to food, water, fuel, and electricity for its 2.4 million residents.
Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz articulated on Friday that “no electric switch will be turned on, no water tap will be opened, and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home.”
Gaza has been under a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007 when Hamas took control of the territory. Notably, in 2008, thousands of Palestinians, fleeing Israeli bombardment, forcibly crossed the Egyptian border with the assistance of bulldozers.
The situation escalated on Friday when Israel ordered approximately 1.1 million civilian residents in the northern Gaza Strip to relocate southward, making way for an anticipated ground invasion in response to Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7.
