File Photo: Trucks transporting humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip drive at the Karm Abu Salem border crossing between southern Israel and Gaza, on May 30, 2024. AFP
The source added that coordination with the UN is a temporary measure until the resumption of the operation of the Rafah crossing, whose Palestinian side has been occupied by Israel since early May.
The source reaffirmed Egypt’s rejection of any operation of the Rafah crossing in the presence of the Israeli occupation forces.
Israel's takeover of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing has halted the flow of humanitarian aid into the strip, which has been facing dire conditions due to the ongoing Israeli war there.
The humanitarian situation is deteriorating in Gaza, especially in southern Gaza, warned the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) in its latest situation report issued on Wednesday.
In southern Gaza, the UN Ocha said, people displaced by the war have been crammed in a “highly congested area along the beach in the burning summer heat.
Ocha reported the lack of milk and formula for babies and nutritional supplements for children and pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Active conflict and lawlessness in the area have made it “near impossible” for the World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners to meet the surging demand, said the WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau, on 14 June, following a two-day visit to Gaza.
Egypt has rejected an Israeli proposal for the two countries to coordinate to control the Rafah crossing, insisting that Palestinian authorities manage the crossings, Reuters reported in mid-May.
Egypt has been demanding an immediate withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from the city of Rafah and the Rafah crossing.
Israel has killed over 37,598 people, mostly women and children, and injured thousands of others in Gaza since 7 October.
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