CAIRO, May 24 (Reuters) – Egypt and the United States agreed on Friday to temporarily route United Nations humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip through the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing point while waiting for a agreement is reached to reopen the Rafah border crossing, the Egyptian presidency said.
The decision was taken during a telephone conversation between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sissi and his American counterpart Joe Biden. The White House also announced the sending of American envoys next week to Cairo in order to step up efforts aimed at unblocking the Rafah crossing point, located in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Much of the aid delivered to the territory has passed through Rafah and Kerem Shalom since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas last October.
But since May 5, just before Israeli forces took control of the Rafah border crossing on the Palestinian side, as a prelude to a ground offensive in the city, no aid trucks have crossed the border at Rafah and only a few passed through Kerem Shalom, according to the United Nations.
In a statement, the Egyptian presidency said the decision to deliver aid through Kerem Shalom was explained by “the difficult humanitarian situation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the lack of vital resources in the enclave and the lack of fuel needed for hospitals and bakeries.
The two leaders also promised to step up diplomatic efforts towards a ceasefire in Gaza, the Egyptian presidency added. (Mohamed Hindawy, with Adam Makary and Yomna Ehab, Jean-Stéphane Brosse for the French version)
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