Cairo, Jan 27 (IANS) Egypt sent another 310 humanitarian aid trucks to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas ceasefire brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) reported.
“The convoy includes 20 trucks loaded with fuel,” the SIS report added. The trucks would go through the Al-Auja (Nitzana) and Kerem Shalom crossings for inspection by the Israeli side before being delivered to Gaza, Xinhua news agency reported.
More than 4,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza during the first six days of the ceasefire, which began on January 19, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Earlier an Egyptian security source and another one with the Egyptian Red Crescent told Xinhua news agency that Egypt has sent dozens of heavy machines to rehabilitate the roads around the crossing, as well as those leading to Palestinian cities nearby, to facilitate the delivery of aid trucks and the reception of wounded Palestinians from Gaza.
A long line of trucks, laden with humanitarian aid, snaked its way towards the heavily-guarded Rafah crossing, hours after the ceasefire agreement came into effect.
The trucks, carrying food, clothes, medical equipment, tents, mobile toilets, and other relief materials, had been parked in several cities in Egypt’s North Sinai Governorate, mainly Arish, Sheikh Zuweid, and Rafah, some of which had been waiting for months to reach Palestinians in need.
The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza has been a key gateway for delivering relief supplies donated by Egypt, other countries, and international organisations. The Palestinian side of the crossing has been controlled by Israel since May 2024, which had blocked its operation until the recent ceasefire deal.
The current six-week first stage of the three-stage ceasefire agreement includes a swap of Israeli captives held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, alongside intensified humanitarian aid deliveries and infrastructure rehabilitation in Gaza.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack across the southern Israeli border, killing about 1,200 people and capturing around 250 others.
Since then, Israel launched retaliatory strikes on Gaza, which killed over 47,000 Palestinians, according to the latest update released by Gaza’s health authorities on Sunday.
–IANS
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