For needed aid deliveries
Egypt prepares to open border with Gaza Strip
October 20, 2023, 12:11 p.m
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Civilians in the Gaza Strip are still desperately waiting for humanitarian aid. As a result, 20 trucks carrying relief supplies will soon be allowed to drive through the Rafah border crossing. Egypt is now said to have started repairing roads for transport and removing concrete barriers.
In Egypt, preparations have apparently begun to open the border to the Gaza Strip for urgently needed aid deliveries. As the AFP news agency learned from security circles, concrete blocks were removed near the border with the sealed-off Palestinian territory.
The state-affiliated Egyptian TV channel Al Kahera News reported on Thursday that the Rafah border crossing, the only entrance to the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel, would open on Friday. However, the government in Cairo said that roads damaged by Israeli air strikes had to be repaired first.
These repairs are still ongoing. AFP learned from eyewitnesses at the border that vehicles and Egyptian equipment were on site to repair the road on the Palestinian side of the border.
The opening of the border to deliver humanitarian aid was brokered by US President Joe Biden. Israel, which completely sealed off the Gaza Strip after Hamas’ major attack on October 7, agreed under conditions that 20 trucks would initially be allowed to drive into the Gaza Strip. The aid may only be distributed to civilians in the south of the Gaza Strip and must not fall into the hands of the radical Islamic Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip.
There is great need among the 2.4 million residents of the Gaza Strip because Israel has stopped delivering food, water, electricity and fuel after the major attack by Hamas and aid convoys have been stuck at the Egyptian border. According to World Health Organization (WHO) emergency director Michael Ryan, a total of 2,000 trucks with relief supplies are needed.
More than a million people have fled the north of the Gaza Strip to the south, where Rafah is located, in view of an expected Israeli ground offensive. During a visit to troops on Thursday, Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Gallant indicated that the ground offensive would begin soon. “Right now you see Gaza from afar, soon you will see it from the inside. The order will come soon,” said Gallant, who prepared the soldiers for “difficult” fighting.