File Photo: A Palestinian security personnel receiving aid from Egypt to the Gaza Strip at the Rafah border crossing. AFP
On Thursday, a UK-based news website claimed that Egypt has imposed fees, starting from $20,000, on the entry of aid and commercial trucks into the Gaza Strip.
The official Egyptian source told Al-Qahera News that Egypt facilitated the entry of nearly 70 per cent of the humanitarian aid trucks that entered Gaza since the start of the Israeli genocidal war on the strip in October 2023, without imposing any charges as part of its longstanding commitment to supporting the Palestinian cause.
Additionally, the Egyptian official source urged the international community to increase its assistance for the Palestinians in Gaza to overcome the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Cairo has facilitated the entry of more than 10,000 aid trucks into Gaza through various border crossings since the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the Us, went into effect on 19 January, according to UN figures.
In the minutes following the start of the ceasefire, Egypt swiftly dispatched hundreds of trucks loaded with food, water, and medicine to Gaza, aimed to relieve the severe hunger and hardship faced by more than two million Palestinians due to the 15-month Israeli blockade on the strip.
Meanwhile, Egypt has lined up a large number of mobile homes to shelter displaced Palestinians and tens of bulldozers to remove debris and rubble left by months of Israeli carpet bombing of Gaza to enter the strip as stipulated in the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
In tandem, Egypt has received more than 12,000 wounded and sick Gazans for treatment at its hospitals since the start of the ceasefire in mid-January.
"Egypt remains steadfast in supporting the Palestinian cause politically and through direct humanitarian assistance to alleviate their suffering," the Egyptian source told Al-Qahera News.
In recent weeks, Egypt has rejected all recent US and Israeli schemes to displace the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Cairo has maintained its unwavering support to realizing the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on the 4 June 1967 border, with East Jerusalem as its capital, under a two-state solution as the only just solution to the Palestinian cause.
Egypt plans to propose a comprehensive plan for the immediate reconstruction of the Gaza Strip for the Arab World and the international community.
In tandem, Cairo will host an emergency Arab summit on 27 February to advance the Palestinian agenda.
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