In a visit to Egyptian Red Crescent warehouses in Arish, the Elders delegation, led by Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand and Mary Robinson, former Ireland president, saw massive quantities of food and medical supplies, including basic medicines such as ibuprofen, stacked and ready for delivery to Gaza but blocked by Israeli authorities.
In a stop at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, closed by the Israelis, the delegation listened to accounts from truck drivers who said their vehicles have been turned back by Israeli authorities multiple times without a plausible explanation.
The Elders' visit to North Sinai comes amid growing international condemnation of the Israeli genocidal and starvation policies against 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian health authorities say more than 212 Palestinians, including nearly 100 children, have starved to death due to the Israeli blockade of the enclave.
In tandem, the Israeli war in Gaza has killed and wounded more than 210,000 Palestinians and all but levelled the strip since October 2023.
The Egyptian Red Crescent, in collaboration with the UN and its humanitarian partners, have sent 12 aid convoys to Gaza since 27 July to stem the unfolding famine among 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza due to the five-month-old Israeli blockade on the strip.
“It is heartbreaking that, near where we were, people are being killed at food distribution sites and children are dying of starvation. Leaders must not look away any longer – they must act,” Helen Clark said, stressing that Israel’s deliberate starvation and systematic killing of Gazans “must end now.”
During their visit, the Elders delegation also met Palestinian patients - wounded and sick - receiving treatment at Al Arish General Hospital.
They heard stories of patients in Gaza undergoing surgical operations without anaesthesia, as well as parents struggling to feed themselves and their children.
North Sinai Governor Khaled Megahed assured the Elders delegation that the Egyptian health ministry is mobilizing all available resources for the treatment of Palestinian wounded and patients.
The governor stressed to the Elders that the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza remains open from the Egyptian side, while Israeli authorities continue to close the Palestinian side of the crossing, effectively halting the flow of life-saving aid.
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