Egypt has agreed to reopen its northern border with Gaza to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid to enter the war-torn enclave — but there are growing fears Hamas will steal it for themselves or use it as cover to bring in more weapons.
Intense talks with Joe Biden
More than 200 trucks and some 3,000 tonnes of aid are now positioned at the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt, to deliver food, water and medicine to the millions of civilians trapped there amid withering Israeli airstrikes.
But under the deal agreed by Egypt after intense talks with President Joe Biden, only 20 trucks with humanitarian aid will be allowed into the enclave from Friday at the earliest amid fears that Hamas will confiscate the supplies.
If Hamas terrorists do try to stop the much-needed aid from reaching Palestinian civilians, ‘it will stop’, Biden said during his visit to Tel Aviv where he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The supplies will go in under the supervision of the UN, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said, adding that before any aid can be moved, the road across the border that was cratered by Israeli airstrikes must be repaired.
The agreement marks the first crack in a punishing 10-day siege on the 25-mile enclave, which has largely been obliterated by Israeli airstrikes, and comes a day after a blast at a hospital killed hundreds and put immense strain on Gaza’s struggling medical system.
Netanyahu said that Israel ‘will not thwart’ the delivery of food, medicine and water from Egypt, as long as they are limited to civilians in the south of the Gaza Strip and don’t go to Hamas terrorists. His office made no mention of fuel, which is badly needed for hospital generators.
Israel fears….
Israel fears that aid deliveries could be used as cover to bring in weapons, or could be diverted into the hands of Hamas.
And adding a glimmer of hope for those trapped in Gaza, Shoukry said as long as the Rafah crossing is operating ‘normally’ and the crossing facility is repaired, foreigners and dual nationals hoping to leave would be let through to Egypt.
Israel shut off all supplies to Gaza soon after Hamas militants rampaged across communities in southern Israel on October.
As supplies run out, many families in Gaza have cut down to one meal a day and have been left to drink dirty water.
Wave after wave of air strikes
Friday’s aid would be the first international relief to enter Gaza since October 7, when Hamas launched shock raids into Israel, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing about 203 hostages.
Since then, Israel has besieged the Palestinian enclave, launching wave after wave of air strikes, enforcing a blockade and deploying tens of thousands of troops to the border in preparation for an expected ground assault.
But relatives of those hostages who were dragged from their homes to Gaza – many of them children – during the October 7 attack on Israel have reacted in fury to the aid announcement.
‘Children, infants, women, soldiers, men, and elderly, some with serious illnesses, wounded and shot, are held underground like animals,’ said a statement from the Hostage and Missing Families Forum.
But ‘the Israeli government pampers the murderers and kidnappers.’
The United Nations and humanitarian groups have begged for the military stranglehold on Gaza to be eased, to allow supplies of water, food, fuel and medicines to enter.
What’s the situation in Gaza?
Top UN humanitarian official Martin Griffiths on Wednesday said the situation in Gaza was dire, with hospitals overwhelmed, more than 3,000 Gazans killed and 12,500 injured.
‘The pace of death, of suffering, of destruction’ he said ‘cannot be exaggerated.’
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Despite the devastation, more than 100 trucks have been queued for days on the Egyptian side of the border waiting to enter Gaza.
After what he described ‘blunt’ negotiations and a telephone call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Biden indicated that about 20 trucks would enter Gaza to start with, with more to come if all sides agree.
‘We want to get as many of the trucks out as possible,’ Biden said aboard Air Force One.
‘If Hamas confiscates it or doesn’t let it get through… then it’s going to end, because we’re not going to be sending any humanitarian aid to Hamas,’ Biden said.
But hours after the deal was announced, Israeli airstrikes continued to pound locations across the Gaza strip today, including parts of the south that Israel had declared safe zones – heightening fears among the millions of Palestinians trapped in the enclave that nowhere was safe.
