Cairo: AfricUpdate – News Desk
Egypt dispatched its twentieth humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza on Thursday morning, continuing its efforts to ease the worsening humanitarian crisis in the strip. The convoy, part of the Zad El-Ezza: From Egypt to Gaza initiative led by the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) that kicked off on 27 July, carried more than 2,000 tonnes of aid. It included thousands of food baskets, hundreds of tons of medicine, flour, and shelter tents.
The initiative aims to counter the famine brought on by Israel’s blockade, which is meant to starve Gazans. As of Tuesday, 266 Palestinians – including 112 children – have died from malnutrition and hunger-related causes. Aid delivery has been deliberately slowed by Israel, especially since it took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in May 2024, completely blocking humanitarian access through the crossing.
Since then, all aid convoys have been rerouted through the Israeli-controlled Karam Abu Salem terminal, where they are subjected to lengthy inspections and restrictions. As a result, over 5,000 trucks are currently stuck at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing. On Monday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told CNN that Israel alone is responsible for halting supplies, describing accusations that Cairo is obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza as a “big lie.”
“They are physically there, preventing any truck or person from moving in,” he said. In a press conference later that day at the crossing, Abdelatty said Egypt is ready to “flood” Gaza with humanitarian aid. “All we need is for the obstacles, barriers, and restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation to be removed.”
According to the UN, 600 to 800 trucks of humanitarian aid are needed daily to sustain the population, a target far from being met under current restrictions. Since the outbreak of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, Egypt has facilitated the entry of over 45,000 trucks carrying half a million tonnes of humanitarian goods.
Of this total, more than 368,000 tonnes came directly from Egypt and 132,000 from other countries. Since the outbreak of the genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023, Israel has killed over 62,000 Palestinians in the strip, the majority being women and children.
