A fuel tanker awaits permission on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip, to drive toward the besieged Palestinians territory. AFP
The convoy is part of the Zad El-Ezza: From Egypt to Gaza initiative launched by the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) on 27 July.
It carried food, medical supplies, baby formula, flour, oil, sugar, cheese and other essentials, joining 20 previous convoys sent in the past three weeks.
On Friday, the United Nations’ (UN) Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) formally declared a famine in Gaza — “the first ever recorded in the Middle East” — warning that half a million Palestinians face “catastrophic” food insecurity.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the crisis as “a man-made disaster, a moral indictment – and a failure of humanity itself.”
According to the Palestinian health ministry, 281 people — including 114 children — have already starved to death, while roughly a quarter of Gaza’s population is at immediate risk of starvation.
The IPC said famine is declared when three thresholds — extreme food deprivation, acute malnutrition and starvation-related deaths — are breached, criteria its latest analysis confirms have now been met.
The situation is projected to deteriorate further: by the end of September, according to the UN, more than 640,000 people in Gaza are expected to face Phase 5 catastrophic hunger, with 1.14 million in Phase 4 emergency conditions and another 396,000 in Phase 3 crisis.
The IPC scale ranges from Phase 1 “food secure” to Phase 5 “famine/humanitarian catastrophe.”
UN agencies have also warned that child malnutrition is escalating at “a catastrophic pace,” with over 12,000 children acutely malnourished in July alone — a sixfold increase since January.
Projections show the number of children at risk of death tripling since May to 43,400 by June 2026.
On Saturday, Egypt expressed its “deep concern” at the declaration, reiterating its rejection of Israel’s “collective punishment” of Gaza’s population and demanding accountability for violations of international law.
UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said the famine could have been prevented “if we had been allowed,” blaming systematic obstruction by Israel: “Food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction. It is a famine within a few hundred metres of food, in a fertile land.”
Since Israel seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in May 2024, Tel Aviv has imposed sweeping restrictions on humanitarian access.
On 2 March, Israel enforced a total blockade — cutting off food, fuel, water and aid — manufacturing famine conditions over the following five months.
Only in late July, following global outrage, did Tel Aviv begin allowing some supplies to trickle through the Israeli-controlled Karam Abu Salem crossing, with Egypt pushing trucks under tight restrictions and frequent obstruction by the occupation.
Between 27 July and 14 August 2025, 1,341 trucks entered Gaza through Karm Abu Salem, while more than 5,000 remained stranded on the Egyptian side of Rafah.
Since the outbreak of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, occupation forces have killed over 62,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children.
In the same period, Egypt has facilitated the entry of more than 45,000 aid trucks carrying some 500,000 tonnes of goods — 368,000 tonnes from Egypt itself — including 168 airdrop operations by the Egyptian Armed Forces.
Cairo has also treated over 18,560 wounded Palestinians from Gaza.
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