Egypt opened the border crossing with Gaza: trucks with humanitarian aid passed through
On October 21, the border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip briefly opened, through which humanitarian aid was delivered to civilians. Israel closed the crossing after a brutal Hamas attack on the country. The publication told in more detail CBS News.
Photo: IStock
2,3 million Palestinians are suffering from a humanitarian crisis. Hospitals say there is a shortage of medicine and fuel for emergency generators amid a nationwide power outage. Israel and Hamas continue to fire rockets.
The opening of the border crossing comes after more than a week of diplomatic work by various mediators, including visits to the region by US President Joe Biden and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Israel insisted that nothing would flow into Gaza until about 200 people captured by Hamas were released, and the Palestinian side of the crossing was closed by Israeli airstrikes.
The Egyptian state newspaper Al-Qahera, close to the security services, reported that on October 21, only 20 of more than 200 trucks carrying about 3 tons of humanitarian aid, which had been parked at the crossing for several days, entered Gaza. Hundreds of people with foreign passports were waiting to cross from Gaza to Egypt to escape the war.
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Hamas said the death toll reached 4385, including 1756 children and 967 women, and 13 wounded.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the opening of Rafah. She called it "an important first step that will alleviate the suffering of innocent people."
The World Health Organization said four of the 20 trucks passing through Rafah were carrying medical supplies, including drugs to treat chronic diseases for 1500 people, emergency supplies for 300 people for three months, trauma medications and supplies for 1200 people and 235 portable trauma bags for ambulance workers.
The World Food Program has assured that another 930 metric tons of essential food is expected to arrive through Rafah. The department said it needed to replenish its “fast-dwindling reserves” as it increased food aid from 520 people to 1,1 million people over the next two months.
As the UN assured, vital materials will be delivered to the medical service of the Palestinian Red Crescent. However, Cindy McCain, head of the UN World Food Programme, said the aid was not enough.
“The situation in Gaza is catastrophic,” McCain said. “We need many, many more trucks and a continuous flow of help.”
Gaza's Hamas-run government said a limited convoy "will not change the humanitarian catastrophe" and called for a XNUMX-hour safe corridor.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari assured that “the humanitarian situation in Gaza is under control.” According to him, aid will be delivered only to the southern regions of Gaza, where the army has ordered the population to be resettled, while fuel will not be supplied to this territory.
Rafah's opening comes after Hamas released an American woman and her teenage daughter, the first prisoners released since the militants' Oct. 7 incursion into Israel.
On October 20, Hamas released Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie on humanitarian grounds under an agreement with Qatar, a Gulf country that often acts as a mediator in the Middle East.
The family said they traveled from their home in a Chicago suburb to Israel to celebrate Jewish holidays. They were at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, near Gaza, when Hamas militants stormed southern Israeli cities, killing hundreds and kidnapping at least 210.
Hamas said it was working with Egypt, Qatar and other mediators to “close the case” over the hostages if security conditions allow.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said 24 people had been killed in Gaza in the past 345 hours and seven hospitals were closed due to damage from the strikes or a lack of fuel.
According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Housing, at least 30% of all houses in Gaza have been destroyed or severely damaged by the fighting. This figure does not include the destruction of entire neighborhoods, which the UN Refugee Agency now describes as "inaccessible mounds of rubble."
Expectations are growing for a ground offensive that Israel says will be aimed at rooting out Hamas, the Islamic terrorist group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years. Israel has said it has no plans to assert long-term control over the small but densely populated Palestinian territory.
Israel has, among other things, exchanged fire on its northern border with the Lebanese group Hezbollah, raising fears of the opening of a second front. The Israeli military said it carried out strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in response to recent rocket launches and anti-tank missile attacks.
On October 21, Israel issued a warning to leave Egypt and Jordan, with which Israel made peace decades ago, and to avoid travel to a number of Arab and Muslim countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain, which established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 .
More than 1400 people have died in Israel during the war, mostly civilians killed during the Hamas invasion. Palestinian militants continue to fire incessantly at Israel with more than 7 rockets fired since October 6900.
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More than 4100 people have died in Gaza, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry. Among them is the controversial death toll from the hospital explosion. Another 1400 people, believed to be alive or dead, are buried under the rubble, the ministry said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on October 20 laid out a three-phase plan: First, Israeli airstrikes and "maneuvering" (presumably a ground attack) would be aimed at rooting out Hamas. This will be followed by a less intensive fight against the remaining outbreaks. Then a new “security regime will be created in Gaza and Israeli responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip will be removed,” Gallant said.
He did not specify who Israel believes will govern Gaza if Hamas is overthrown or what the new security regime will include.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi proposed a completely different scenario for the development of events at the summit to discuss the war. He called for aid to Gaza, a ceasefire and a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that were last held more than a decade ago.
He said the conflict would never be resolved "at Egypt's expense," referring to fears that Israel might try to push the Gaza population into the Sinai Peninsula.
As ForumDaily wrote earlier:
- October 7 Hamas attacked Israel: Netanyahu said "this is war."
- October 8 The Israeli government officially declared war and greenlighted "significant military steps" in response to the surprise attack by Hamas militants.
- October 11, first plane with American weapons arrived in southern Israel, and the US government offers American citizens wishing to leave Israel, evacuation flights. On October 14, it became known that Egypt, Israel and the United States agreed that foreigners living in the Gaza Strip, will be able to travel through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.
- October 16 President US Joe Biden said that the Israeli occupationI Gaza Strip would be a big mistake.
- Hossein Amir-Abdallahian, Iranian Foreign Minister, October 18 posted a tweet where he wrote that Israel’s time is “running out”. This happened after a rocket attack on a hospital in Gaza took place on October 17.
- October 18 US President Joe Biden visited Israelto express strong support for a country that has declared war on the Palestinian group Hamas due to its brutal terror.
- October 19 US President Joe Biden addressed the Americans from the Oval Office with a speech about the wars between Israel and Hamas, as well as Russia and Ukraine.
- October 20 The US secured the release of two Americans, taken hostage by Hamas during the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7.
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