Tue 17 October 2023:
An aid convoy carrying critical medical equipment is stuck on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, the International Committee for the Red Cross has said.
A total of 12 trucks are transporting medical supplies, mattresses, blankets, aid for families and chlorine for cleaning water, the organisation said.
Speaking to our US partner site NBC News, a spokesperson said additional teams, including surgical staff, have been placed on standby to help.
Hospitals in southern Gaza have been overwhelmed, with the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency earlier warning they have just 24 hours of fuel left.
The Rafah border crossing was expected to open to allow some Palestinians out of Gaza and humanitarian aid into the region yesterday after a deal was struck between the US and Cairo.
However, Israel and Hamas failed to reach a ceasefire agreement to allow it to open, and Egypt said the crossing has come under fire by Israeli air strikes.
Half a million children ordered to move – and only way out is through a ceasefire, says UNICEF
Half a million of children have been ordered to move out of Gaza by Israel, a spokesman for UNICEF has said, but the only way to get them out is “through a ceasefire”.
James Elder told Sky News about the impact of the conflict on children, saying they were learning the “world can be a very unsafe and unstable place”.
He said “scores and scores” of children were currently in intensive care and doctors do not want to move them.
“It doesn’t make any sense to move them to another overcrowded city where they may be bombed on the way,” Elder said.
“That’s making life or death decisions. I know people must get tired of hearing this, but the only way children get out of this is through a ceasefire.”
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
______________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
