Dozens of trucks crossed from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on Monday and headed to the Israeli-controlled Karm Abu Salem crossing for inspection before being handed to United Nations (UN) agencies and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) for distribution.
The convoy is part of the Zad El-Ezza: From Egypt to Gaza initiative launched on 27 July and organized by the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) in coordination with the UN.
Israel began allowing limited aid into Gaza in late July after a five-month land, sea, and air blockade that produced the first United Nations (UN)-declared famine in the Middle East, but it continues to block most fuel. Additionally, the occupation has previously blocked Egyptian trucks carrying medical supplies from entering the strip.
Aid agencies say the blockade has crippled Gaza’s hospitals, water and sewage plants, and relief logistics, forcing services to shut down as generators run dry.
On Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry warned that Gaza is facing a “health genocide” and forced displacement, adding that Israel is blocking life-saving humanitarian and medical aid.
The health ministry's director general, Dr Munir al-Bursh, stated that thousands of chronically ill patients have died due to a lack of medication, 50,000 people were displaced in the past week, and more than 1,671 health workers have been killed.
It warned that hospitals in southern Gaza are running at 300 percent capacity as electricity shortages cripple medical care.
Since the outbreak of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, Egypt has been Gaza’s main lifeline, providing over 70 percent of all humanitarian aid that has reached the besieged enclave.
More than 45,000 truckloads, carrying 500,000 tonnes of relief, including 81,000 tonnes of fuel and 209 ambulances, have crossed from Egypt to Gaza.
El-Arish airport has handled over 1,000 aid flights, while its port has received 32 relief ships. The military has also airdropped nearly 3,800 tonnes of supplies.
On Saturday, the Israeli military ordered the immediate evacuation of Gaza City, with approximately 350,000 people forcibly displaced from the north of the strip since mid-August.
Aid workers warned that mass forced displacement south will intensify overcrowding in already overstretched “humanitarian zones,” where families lack money, shelter, and basic services.
Since dawn on Monday, the Israeli occupation forces have killed 25 Palestinians, 20 of them in Gaza City, pushing the total death toll since the outbreak of their genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023 closer to 65,000.
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