Another aid shipment arrived in the Gaza Strip. Juliette Touma, communications director at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA), told Reuters news agency by phone from Amman that a convoy of 14 trucks entered the coastal sector of Egypt on Sunday evening. After days of efforts to open the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, the first aid batch of 20 trucks arrived in the Palestinian territories on Saturday.
The focus is on medicines and foodstuffs. However, according to the United Nations, 100 trucks are needed daily to meet the basic needs of the population in the Gaza Strip. United Nations Emergency Aid Coordinator Martin Griffiths said in an interview on the sidelines of the Middle East Conference in Cairo on Saturday that it is important that there is no gap in aid passing across the border. On Sunday, Griffiths spoke of another “ray of hope” after the second convoy.
Israel closed the Gaza Strip more strictly after the attack by the ruling Palestinian Islamic extremist organization there on October 7, and has repeatedly attacked the area from the air since then. It also asked residents to evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip. Egypt finally opened the Rafah crossing for the delivery of aid.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden discussed aid delivery with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone. Washington hopes that these events will be repeated. The White House said on Sunday that Biden and Netanyahu reaffirmed that there will now be “a continued flow of this vital assistance to Gaza.” Biden welcomed the first two convoys in the conversation.
According to UN relief organizations, the first aid shipments delivered to the Gaza Strip have not yet brought any much-needed fuel to the Palestinian territories. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned, in a statement on Monday evening, that without fuel, people in the Gaza Strip, including children and women, would continue to “suffocate.” Fuel is needed, among other things, to keep power generators running in hospitals. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned in a statement that UNRWA will use its reserves during the next three days.
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