Egyptian aid trucks are making their way through the Rafah crossing toward Karm Abu Salem crossing. Egyptian Red Crescent
The convoy is part of the emergency Egyptian response, in collaboration with the UN and its humanitarian partners, to stem famine conditions unfolding in Gaza over the past several weeks amid the Israeli genocidal war and war of starvation on the strip.
The five-month-old complete Israeli blockade on the entry of food, water, and medicine to Gaza has driven most of the 2.3 million population in the strip into famine. The blockade has starved at least 200 Palestinians, including tens of children, to death.
Since 27 July, the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) has managed to deliver 20,000 tons of aid supplies to Gaza under the Zad El-Ezza: From Egypt to Gaza humanitarian initiative to save starving Palestinians.
However, Israel has continued to delay the entry of aid trucks into Gaza at the Karm Abu Salem crossing as Israeli soldiers inspected trucks over and over for hours at a time.
These Israeli delaying tactics have limited the number of aid trucks entering the strip to 100 per day, according to media reports, while international aid groups say that a minimum of 600-800 trucks are needed per day to stem starvation.
On Tuesday, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi described the war in Gaza as “a war of starvation, genocide, and an attempt to eliminate the Palestinian cause,” calling for an immediate ceasefire and the unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid.
The Egyptian president also rejected the accusations directed against Egypt, claiming it was contributing to the blockade of aid.
“Before the war, 600–700 trucks of food and basic necessities used to enter Gaza daily to support 2.3 million Palestinians. Imagine reducing that number to zero over the past 21 months. The current situation in Gaza stems from the Israeli blockade, not from Egypt abandoning its role or participating in the siege,” he said.
He added that over 5,000 aid trucks are still waiting on Egyptian soil, ready to move into Gaza.
During a press conference with Vietnamese President Luong Cuong in Cairo on Tuesday, El-Sisi condemned the international community's silence while “the lives of the Palestinian people in Gaza — and possibly also in the West Bank — are now being used as political bargaining card.”
On Tuesday, Egypt sent its eighth aid convoy for Gaza, carrying flour and dairy products. The convoy also included 33 Emirati aid trucks, carrying 892 tons of food, according to Sky News Arabia.
On Sunday, nine Egyptian military transport planes dropped food aid over remote areas of Gaza inaccessible by land.
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