Egypt: Israel Has Not Allowed Rafah Crossing Opened

Cairo, MINA – Israel is still hampering efforts to send humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian government revealed that the Rafah crossing, which is the main traffic gate entering and exiting the Gaza Strip, was not officially closed. But trucks carrying humanitarian aid cannot pass due to continuing Israeli air attacks on the Gaza side.

“There is an urgent need to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters on Monday, adding that talks with Israel had not yielded results.

“To date the Israeli government has not permitted to open the Rafaah crossing from the Gaza side to allow the entry of aid and the exit of third country nationals,” Shoukry added, as quoted from Republika Online.

Shoukry said that Egypt wants the Rafah crossing to function as usual. Including Palestinians seeking medical treatment or normal travel.

Earlier two Egyptian security sources said that a ceasefire in southern Gaza lasting several hours had been agreed to on Monday morning. This is to facilitate the process of sending aid and evacuation in Rafah.

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But Israel later denied the existence of such an agreement. “There is currently no ceasefire or humanitarian assistance in Gaza in exchange for the exit of foreigners,” said a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Hamas official Izzat El-Reshiq conveyed the same thing to Reuters. According to a report by Al Arabiya, the Rafah border to Gaza was opened on Monday morning local time.

However, according to a report by the Egyptian non-governmental organization, Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, the agreement to open the Rafah crossing, which was scheduled for Monday morning, has stalled. The termination of the agreement to open the Rafah crossing was due to pressure from Israel to inspect all humanitarian aid trucks before entering the Gaza Strip.

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There are more than 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid queuing to enter the Gaza Strip. According to two sources and a witness at the scene quoted by Reuters, trucks carrying hundreds of tons of aid from NGOs as well as several countries were waiting in the city of Al-Arish in Egypt to obtain conditions that would allow entry into Gaza.

Fighting between Hamas and Israel has been going on for 10 days, starting from October 7 2023. The number of injured and dead, both in Israel and in the Gaza Strip, continues to increase.

In Gaza, the death toll has reached 2,750. This figure has exceeded the death toll in Israel’s most brutal aggression against Gaza which lasted for around six weeks in 2014. At that time, according to UN data, the number of Palestinians killed reached 2,251.

“In its latest update, the Health Ministry said 2,750 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, and more than 9,700 people were injured since the start of the Israeli aggression on October 7,” the Palestinian news agency, WAFA, said in its report Monday.

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Of the current death toll in the Gaza Strip, more than 700 of them are children. Meanwhile, the death toll among women reached almost 400 people.

According to the UN, Israeli air strikes which began on October 7 2023, have also caused at least 1 million Gaza residents to be displaced and displaced. The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor (EMHRM) group, in its statement on Saturday revealed that Israeli aggression destroyed 2,650 residential buildings in Gaza.

Now the living conditions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are also very worrying. This is because Israel imposed a total blockade on the region. The supply of essential goods, such as food, medicine, including electricity and water, was stopped. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)