Several Egyptian aid trucks enter Gaza as famine sets in
Several Egyptian aid trucks carrying crucial humanitarian supplies entered Gaza through the Karm Abu Salem crossing on the Rafah border, according to the government-friendly North Africa Post via Al-Qahera News on July 28th.
The convoy began crossing the border on July 27th, with the aid trucks carrying a range of supplies including food, flour, and reconstruction materials. The Egyptian Red Crescent simultaneously launched a major aid initiative named Zad Al-Ezza. They deployed more than 100 aid trucks from Egypt into Gaza which were carrying 1,200 tons of food, such as 840 tons of flour and 450 tons of food baskets. However, Israeli restrictions mean the trucks must be rerouted from Rafah to Karm Abu Salem to be inspected prior to gaining access to southern Gaza.
The effort comes as Israel announced a daily “tactical pause” in military activity. This will be enforced in certain areas of Gaza to open new humanitarian corridors for aid trucks, delivering food to Palestinians being starved by Israel. The pauses will be active between 10am and 8pm daily.
The entrance of the aid trucks form part of Egypt’s ongoing efforts to alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian crisis that the 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza are facing. According to The Guardian on July 29th, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global UN-backed hunger monitoring system, said that “the worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli military revealed on July 27th that it airdropped humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, an act that was followed by the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, according to the BBC. However, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has said airdrops are ineffective and a potentially dangerous method of aid delivery. Al Jazeera reported on July 27th that at least 11 Palestinians in northern Gaza were injured by airdrop pallets falling directly on displacement tents.
Aid agencies, such as the UN, have emphasised that the minimum threshold of aid trucks entering Gaza per day to adequately mitigate the widespread malnutrition sits at between 600 and 800, far below the current amount. Reportedly, more than 123 Palestinians in Gaza have died due to starvation.
North Africa Post via Al-Qahera News, Maghrebi.org, The Guardian, BBC, Al Jazeera
Want to chase the pulse of North Africa?
Subscribe to receive our FREE weekly PDF magazine
