Trucks carrying aid wait to exit, on the Palestinian side of the border with Egypt, as the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas continues, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 21, 2023. | Photo Credit: Reuters

By Smartencyclopedia with agencies

A border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened on Saturday to deliver much-needed aid to the besieged Palestinian territory for the first time since Israel blocked Hamas. ” Two weeks ago, the blood was shed.

Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, half of whom are refugees, are sharing food and drinking dirty water. Hospitals are said to be in need of medical aid and fuel for emergency machines due to a power outage in the area. Israel continues to launch airstrikes across the devastated Gaza Strip, while Palestinian forces fire on Israel.

The opening ceremony comes after a week of high-level meetings with various stakeholders, including US President Joe Biden and the UN Secretary-General The talks took place after Antonio Guterres. Israel insists that no one is allowed to enter Gaza until the 200 people arrested by Hamas are removed, and Israeli aircraft blockaded the Palestinian side of the crossing.

Only 20 of more than 200 vehicles entered Gaza on Saturday, while 3,000 tonnes of cargo was stuck near the crossing for days, government sources in Egypt’s Al-Qahera, close to security agencies, said. . Hundreds of people with foreign passports were waiting to cross from Gaza into Egypt to escape the fighting.

The head of the United Nations World Food Program says aid is not enough. “Things in Gaza are difficult,” Cindy McCain told The Associated Press. “We need more and more vehicles and more aid,” he said, adding that before the war, 400 cars entered Gaza every day.

The Hamas government in Gaza said minorities “cannot reverse the human tragedy”, citing always-effective security systems.

Major General Israeli Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is under control”. He said aid would only be sent to southern Gaza and the army ordered people to evacuate, adding that no oil would enter the area.

Guterres expressed growing international concern about civilians in Gaza at this time, telling a conference in Cairo that Hamas had carried out a “heinous attack” on Israel two weeks ago and “not May justify all punishments against the Palestinian people.”

Hours after Hamas freed an American woman and her teenage daughter, they were the first prisoners released by the Army Staff. 7 Entering Israel. It’s unclear whether there is a link between the two.

On Friday, Hamas, in cooperation with Qatar, released Judith Lanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie on humanitarian grounds. Qatar is a Persian Gulf state that often acts as a mediator in the Middle East.

The couple traveled to Israel from their home in Chicago to celebrate the Jewish holiday, family members claim. Hamas and other terrorists were on a kibbutz in Nahal Oz near Gaza when they attacked southern Israeli towns, killing hundreds and kidnapping 210.

Hamas said it was working with Egypt, Qatar, and other partners to “close the cases” of the detainees if it was safe to do so.

Heavy shelling in Gaza on Saturday night. The Hamas-run health ministry said 345 people had died in Gaza in the past 24 hours and seven hospitals were out of service or running out of fuel after shelling.

Hamas’ housing ministry says at least 30 percent of buildings in Gaza have been damaged or severely damaged during the war. This figure does not include the destruction across the region, which the UN refugee agency described as “an irreparable heap of rubble”.

Hopes are growing for a ground offensive that Israel says will topple Hamas, the Islamist militant group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years. Israel said on Friday it did not intend to maintain long-term control of the small but densely populated Palestinian territories.

Israel is also fighting Lebanese Hezbollah forces on its northern border, raising fears of a second opening. The Israeli military said on Saturday it struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in response to rocket and anti-tank missile attacks.

“Hezbollah has decided to enter this war and we just want to pay a heavy price for it,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoava Galante said during a visit to the region.

Israel issued a travel warning on Saturday, ordering its citizens to leave Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel decades ago, and avoid travel to a number of Arab and Muslim countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Bahrain. Established. Relations with Israel in 2020. Protests have erupted across the region against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Israeli ground strikes caused heavy casualties on both sides of the civil war. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed in the conflict, mostly civilians killed by Hamas. Palestinian terrorists continue to throw stones at Israel, with more than 6,900 stones thrown since October. 7. Seize troops.

More than 4,100 people have died in Gaza, according to the Hamas health ministry. This includes threats of hospital bombings earlier this week. The ministry said a further 1,400 people were believed to be buried in the rubble, alive and dead.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi asked at a meeting on Saturday for help in Gaza to negotiate a ceasefire and resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians that ended more than a decade ago. He added that the war would not end “with the Egyptian government,” referring to concerns that Israel was trying to push Gazans into the Sinai Peninsula.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II told the conference that Israel’s attack and siege of Gaza were “war crimes” and condemned the international response.

“Elsewhere, weapons can be blamed on civilians, and everyone is lacking food, water, electricity and other necessities,” he said.