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SvennoJ on 08 July 2024
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Stranded aid trucks in Egypt deepen Gaza’s humanitarian crisis

Hundreds of trucks loaded with food, water and aid have been stranded on a scorching Egyptian road, some for nearly two months, awaiting permission to deliver humanitarian supplies into Gaza.

The truck drivers, parked on the outskirts of the Egyptian city of El Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, said they have been unable to deliver humanitarian supplies ever since Israel expanded its offensive on the Gaza-Egypt border in May. Some food has had to be discarded, they said.

“I swear to God, before this load, we came here and stood for more than 50 days, and eventually the load was returned because it had expired,” truck driver Elsayed el-Nabawi told the Reuters news agency. “We had to turn around and return it. We loaded another batch, and here we are standing again, and only God knows if this load will make it before it expires or what will happen to it.”

Aid groups have warned for months that there is a high risk of famine across Gaza.


NRC says it has not received any aid since May 3

Thousands of trucks containing shelter and other essential aid remain stuck in El Arish, Egypt, and at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

“Due to Israeli restrictions and breakdown of law and order, NRC has not received any aid at its sites since 3 May. A severe cash shortage has compounded the hardship faced by people in Gaza,” the organisation said in a statement.

Following the Israeli military’s relocation orders on July 1, some 250,000 people are reported to have fled Khan Younis, mainly to overcrowded western areas and Deir el-Balah.

“The closure of the Rafah border crossing has damaged people’s ability to survive. This is causing daily stress among people. The first question every morning is the same: ‘What are we going to eat today?’ It is getting harder to provide any meaningful support,” said Maysa Saleh, the NRC’s education officer in Deir el-Balah.

“In my time here, I have not seen anything that can be described as sufficient aid. It is almost non-existent,” she said.


Lines of aid trucks for Gaza stand on an Egyptian road waiting to be deployed, in Al Arish, Egypt


UNRWA reopens health facility in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says it has reopened a health centre in southern Gaza’s ravaged city of Khan Younis after it was “severely damaged”.

The facility sustained damage in January, UNRWA said in a post on X. It added that there are no other health facilities in the area, and that the clinic is “crucial to support the displaced families that moved back in the area looking for shelter”.

Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital was forced to shut services down as generators ran out of fuel days ago. There is currently only one hospital that is partially functioning in southern Gaza.


Gaza’s media office warns Palestinians of evacuation orders and ‘field executions’

Gaza’s government media office has warned families in Gaza City not to follow Israeli evacuation orders and flee to the south of the enclave, saying it would jeopardise their safety.

In a statement, it said the evacuation orders were “false” and their objective was to lead them towards “death traps, killings, and field executions”.

It said “dozens of field executions” previously took place to those who attempted to flee via the al-Rashid Street, as well as via Salah al-Din Street – a road stretching across the length of Gaza.

During previous evacuation orders, Israeli forces called on Palestinians to flee towards the centre and the south of the enclave, then “executed citizens in cold blood as soon as they arrived at the military checkpoints, and put them in prison”, the statement read.