Photo courtesy of the Egyptian Red Crescent
The convoy included food baskets and flour, medicines, relief and personal-care supplies, fuel, and winter items such as heavy clothing, blankets, and tents, the ERC said in a statement.
At the Rafah land crossing, a new group of Palestinian returnees also arrived at the main square on the Egyptian side, with procedures underway to finalize their return to the Gaza Strip, crossing sources said.
The sources added that ERC teams received the returnees and facilitated procedures in coordination with relevant authorities, distributing meals, water, and juice, along with sweets and chocolate for children, and providing psychosocial support.
Meanwhile, Egyptian authorities were prepared to receive the 11th batch of wounded and ill Palestinians from Gaza for treatment in Egyptian hospitals. The Ministry of Health has set up a medical point at Rafah to examine arrivals, triage cases, and transfer them to hospitals using fully equipped ambulances, the sources added.
In recent days, 10 batches of Palestinian returnees have returned to Gaza, while Egypt has continued receiving wounded and sick Palestinians for treatment in its hospitals.
Since 7 October 2023, Egypt has led one of the region’s largest sustained humanitarian operations for Gaza, maintaining aid deliveries for more than 760 consecutive days.
Through the Rafah and Karm Abu Salem crossings, the ERC has delivered over 800,000 tons of humanitarian assistance with support from 59 countries, 943 relief flights, and 617 maritime shipments.
Since late July, nearly 24,900 aid trucks have entered Gaza, including 919 fuel trucks carrying more than 290,000 tons.
Egypt has also facilitated medical evacuations, enabling the entry of 214 ambulances, deploying four field hospitals, and supplying around 91,000 tons of fuel to sustain hospitals and essential services. Rafah has remained operational from the Egyptian side throughout the crisis.
Separately, Mohamed Mansour, spokesperson for the Egyptian Committee for Gaza Relief, said the committee has been providing humanitarian support inside Gaza, including urgent aid for displaced families after tents caught fire as people resorted to open flames in the absence of cooking gas.
Mansour said the committee provided full shelter packages to affected families to secure safer accommodation and reduce hardship.
He added that the committee has expanded education support by recycling wooden pallets from Egypt into school desks, helping to reopen more than 45 schools in cooperation with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Ministry of Education, and other UN agencies, producing hundreds of desks daily.
A UN delegation, including representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), visited the committee’s camps in the Netzarim and Al-Zahraa areas, as well as its headquarters, acknowledging the organization’s relief efforts, according to Mansour.
Short link: