Turkish aid ship to deliver food, baby formula to Gaza
An aid ship called “The Goodness” has departed from Turkiye’s Mersin port, carrying 900 tonnes of food and baby formula for people in Gaza, according to the Anadolu agency.
The humanitarian shipment, organised by Turkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) in coordination with 17 NGOs and Egypt’s Red Crescent, comes as the Turkish government has become a key supporter of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, including as a mediator.
Turkiye also has a history of supporting Gaza Freedom Flotillas, including the Mavi Marmara, which was attacked by Israeli commandos in 2010, leading to the death of 10 Turkish nationals.
Unlike freedom flotilla missions that have attempted to break Israel’s siege by sailing directly to Gaza, The Goodness will deliver aid to the Strip via the port of El Arish in Egypt.
An aerial view of Turkiye’s ‘The Goodness’ as it sets sail from Mersin International Port for Egypt’s El Arish Port on Tuesday
Israel to reopen Rafah crossing as planned: Report
Israel’s Kan public broadcaster is reporting that Israel’s government has decided to reopen the Rafah crossing today, as originally planned under last week’s ceasefire agreement.
Earlier, we reported that Israel was threatening to delay reopening the vital aid route. However, according to Kan, the decision was reversed after Hamas returned the bodies of four more captives on Tuesday night and said it would return more later today.
Israel appears to back down from threat to restrict Gaza aid
We are hearing confirmation that the political echelon, which had really done what is viewed largely as a stunt, is backing down.
Let’s just remind our readers that the agreement does not stipulate that the return of all 28 bodies had to be done within that 72-hour window that was applicable to the living captives.
There was an admission, a recognition of the difficulty of retrieving the bodies as early as January. The head of the Mossad has met with the families of the captives and even discussed that long before the agreement was reached.
It’s not clear what role the mediators played in that, but according to the Israeli broadcasting authority and other media outlets in Israel, the Israeli government seems to have backed down from its earlier communication with the United Nations about halving the number of trucks and not allowing the Rafah crossing to open.
And of course, the Rafah crossing is essential to allowing medical evacuation of thousands of Palestinians who need treatment outside Gaza.
A timeline of Israel’s closure of the Rafah crossing
- On May 7, 2024, Israeli forces seized the Karem Abu Salem (known as Kerem Shalom in Israel) and Rafah crossings, blocking all aid from reaching the Gaza Strip from Egypt through what the UN described as Gaza’s aid “arteries”.
- The seizure came a day after Israeli forces invaded the city of Rafah, forcing more than one million people to flee in the weeks that followed.
- The ICJ ordered Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing on May 24, 2024, following an emergency submission from South Africa, but the crossing remained closed, with only limited access via the adjacent Karem Abu Salem crossing.
- Residents of Rafah were only able to return to the destroyed city after a temporary ceasefire began on January 19, 2025.
- The Rafah crossing temporarily reopened to allow medical evacuations in February, before Israel issued new forced evacuation orders for Rafah at the end of March.
Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid are parked on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, waiting to get access to the Gaza Strip, on Sunday
