Twenty aid trucks to enter Gaza as Rafah crossing opens
Julian Borger
The Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza has finally opened to allow 20 Egyptian trucks carrying medical supplies across, after a week of intense negotiations involving the US, Israel, Egypt and UN.
Under the agreement, only 20 trucks will be allowed today, all deliveries from the Egyptian Red Crescent to the Palestinian Red Crescent organisation. A UN official said that the next convoy might not be allowed to cross until Monday.
The Israeli government has demanded to see proof that the aid deliveries are not seized or diverted by Hamas, before authorising further deliveries.
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Jordan’s King Abdullah says that forced displacement or internal displacement of Palestinians would constitute a war crime, reports Reuters.
The Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, tells the Cairo summit that he invited leaders to come to agreement for a roadmap to end the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and revive a path to peace, reports Reuters.
ActionAid communications and advocacy coordinator, Riham Jafari, welcomed today’s aid convoy into Gaza, but said it was “barely a drop in the ocean”.
We welcome this morning’s aid convoy into Gaza, but it’s clear that what’s being delivered today is barely a drop in the ocean. Before this crisis began, around 500 aid trucks would normally cross the border every day providing a vital lifeline to millions of Gazans who were already facing a humanitarian crisis. Aid trucks also did not bring with them the fuel needed to power hospitals, keep ambulances moving, or to pump water from the ground. We’re hearing stories every day of communities coming together to donate whatever fuel they have remaining to keep incubators going for newborns who are in a critical condition. With 2.2 million Gazans facing a humanitarian crisis we’re urgently calling for a ceasefire and for the opening of humanitarian corridors.
Cairo peace summit beginsAttenders of Cairo’s peace summit have taken their seats at the conference, which aims to agree on a common position on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
However, two diplomats have told Reuters that it is unlikely that a joint statement will materialise from the gathering due to sensitivities around calling for a ceasefire and whether to include mention of Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October and Israel’s right to defend itself.
The absence of a top official from the US, which is represented at the summit by its embassy charge d’Affaires, and some key western leaders has also limited expectations.
It comes a short while after the Rafah crossing into Gaza from Egypt was finally opened to allow a limited number of aid vehicles through.
World Health Organization medical supplies have crossed the Rafah border, says the body’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, but says much more is needed:
.@WHO medical supplies crossed the Rafah border. But the needs are far higher.
To meet the urgent health needs of all people in Gaza, we call for:
-safe passage of additional aid convoys across the enclave
-protection of all humanitarian workers
-sustained access for health aid
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 21, 2023UN warns aid must reach Gaza in a ‘safe, dependable, unconditional and unimpeded manner’The UN’s undersecretary general for for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has released a statement on today’s aid delivery to Gaza where he said the humanitarian situation “has reached catastrophic levels”.
He said he was “confident” that it would mark the start of a “sustainable effort to provide essential supplies” safely and unimpeded. But he said it was “critical” that sufficient aid reached people across Gaza, adding: “The international community cannot continue to fail them.”
We welcome today’s announcement that an aid convoy has entered Gaza, the first since the outbreak of hostilities on 7 October.
The 20-truck convoy includes life-saving supplies provided by the Egyptian Red Crescent and the United Nations which are approved to cross and be received by the Palestinian Red Crescent, with the support of the United Nations.
The delivery follows days of deep and intense negotiations with all relevant sides to make sure that aid operation into Gaza resumes as quickly as possible and with the right conditions.
I am confident that this delivery will be the start of a sustainable effort to provide essential supplies – including food, water, medicine and fuel – to the people of Gaza, in a safe, dependable, unconditional and unimpeded manner.
Two weeks since the start of hostilities, the humanitarian situation in Gaza – already precarious – has reached catastrophic levels. It is critical that aid reaches people in need wherever they are across Gaza, and at the right scale.
The people of Gaza have endured decades of suffering. The international community cannot continue to fail them.
Cairo, 21 October 2023
13 people killed in airstrike over residential unit in Deir al-Balah, says Hamas13 people have reportedly been killed in an airstrike over a residential unit in the Palestinian city of Deir al-Balah.
The report, from Reuters, citing Hamas media, has not been independently verified.
The Hamas media office has said the expected truckloads of aid “will not change the catastrophic medical conditions in Gaza”, reports Reuters.
Twenty aid trucks to enter Gaza as Rafah crossing opens
Julian Borger
The Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza has finally opened to allow 20 Egyptian trucks carrying medical supplies across, after a week of intense negotiations involving the US, Israel, Egypt and UN.
Under the agreement, only 20 trucks will be allowed today, all deliveries from the Egyptian Red Crescent to the Palestinian Red Crescent organisation. A UN official said that the next convoy might not be allowed to cross until Monday.
The Israeli government has demanded to see proof that the aid deliveries are not seized or diverted by Hamas, before authorising further deliveries.
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said the aid crossing into Gaza “cannot be a one-off” as he calls for further humanitarian access.
Trucks carrying lifesaving aid are beginning to cross at Rafah into Gaza.
This aid is a lifeline for those suffering.
But it cannot be a one off.
The UK continues to push for humanitarian access to Gaza.
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) October 21, 2023WHO health supplies to cross into Gaza, says director generalTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Heath Organization, said its supplies including trauma and chronic disease medicines and basic essential medicines, would be crossing today:
It seems that shortly, @WHO health supplies will finally be moving towards Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
The supplies include trauma and chronic disease medicines, and basic essential medicines.
WHO calls for:
– protection of humanitarian teams in Gaza
– sustained…
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 21, 2023Rafah crossing has opened and aid trucks entered Palestinian sideAid trucks have entered the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, a Palestinian border official has confirmed, while Egyptian television showed trucks entering the Gaza Strip.
The border crossing was finally due to open at 10am local time to allow desperately needed medicine, medical supplies and food supplies to enter.
Trucks carrying aid arrive at the Palestinian side of the border with Egypt. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/ReutersAid officials have told the Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, that 20 trucks were being permitted to cross today carrying Egyptian government aid, as per the arrangement worked out by the US, Israel and Egypt.
Egyptian television footage shows trucks surrounded by onlookers crossing the border this morning.
World leaders and international government representatives are to attend a peace summit in Cairo today.
Among those expected to attend the international conference to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, reports Reuters, include the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the Iraqi prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, the EU council president, Charles Michel, and the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly.