There is a sense of a monumental breakthrough after days of protests, campaigns and diplomacy after the first aid trucks begin to make their way through the Rafah border crossing and into Gaza from Egypt.
But with only 20 aid trucks expected to enter today, the relief will be short-lived. This amount of supplies will barely scratch the surface of Gaza’s existing humanitarian crisis – one that is escalating under the onslaught of Israeli airstrikes.
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The trucks are mostly carrying medical supplies which are desperately needed by doctors and aid workers struggling to treat an ever-increasing number of casualties. Surgeons in al Shifa hospital have been operating on patients without anaesthesia.
Cindy McCain, the executive director of the World Food Programme, has welcomed the passing into Gaza of the humanitarian convoy but warned that 20 trucks of aid isn’t enough.
“The situation inside Gaza is dire. Not only is there no food, there is no water, electricity, or fuel. And that combination is not only catastrophic but can lead to more starvation and disease as well,” she told Al Jazeera.
“We’ve got to get more trucks in,” she said, adding that its important to ensure aid reaches the hands of the right beneficiaries, in a safe and sustained manner.
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza has opened and 20 aid trucks have begun rolling in. But humanitarian groups say this initial aid is still “a drop in the ocean”. pic.twitter.com/Moq79a7rLn
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) October 21, 2023
We expect UN agency to deliver aid: Gaza government
In a statement, Salama Maarouf, the head of the office, said: “With the start of the entry through the Rafah crossing of the first limited convoy of basic needs, we are waiting for UNRWA – as the receiving party – to carry out its duty of delivering aid to those in need in various areas in the Gaza Strip.”
Maarouf stressed the importance of “establishing a safe corridor that works around the clock to provide the humanitarian needs and essential services that have become completely missing” in the Gaza Strip, according to the statement.
He said the corridor should also “allow the wounded to exit [the Gaza Strip] in order to receive appropriate medical care in light of the fact that it cannot be provided by the health system [in Gaza] at the moment”.
Palestinians in Gaza frustrated over aid quantities crossing Rafah
We are anticipating the arrival of medical and food supplies, but no fuel supplies, which is a concern. Five hospitals are completely out of service while another two are running on very low fuel supplies and have already had to shut down major health departments.
The 20 trucks are going to be allowed to move to an area between the Egyptian gate and the Palestinian gate. Then the aid is going to be offloaded, transferred onto UN trucks and driven to UN warehouses from which it will be distributed across the Gaza Strip.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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