Heads of state, organizations and human rights groups have recently worked to get emergency aid delivered to civilians in Gaza via Egypt.
If we are to believe Israel, it could happen tomorrow at the latest.
Israeli army (IDF) spokesman Arye Sharuz Shalicar told the German TV channel RTL on Thursday that the emergency aid could enter on Friday or Saturday at the latest.
Israel’s government said – before bowing to pressure – that no emergency aid would come in until the hostages taken by Hamas and Islamic Holy War are released.
The Israeli army says in a statement on Friday afternoon that the majority of the 200 hostages are still alive. And that dead people were also taken to the Gaza Strip.
On Thursday, the IDF updated the number of hostages to 203. There will be both Israeli soldiers and civilians, several with American, French and British citizenship, among those abducted.
There has been no independent confirmation of the information from the IDF.
In recent days, António Guterres has tried to speed up the work to get emergency aid to the civilian population in Gaza.
Photo: AMR ABDALLAH DALSH / Reuters
The UN chief on the border
On Friday afternoon, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appeared on the Egyptian side at Rafah, the border crossing with Gaza, to try to speed up the process of getting emergency aid across.
– There is a need for a significant number of trucks with emergency aid to be allowed into Gaza every day, says Guterres, according to the Reuters news agency.
– The lorries must get into Gaza as quickly as possible, he says and adds that the UN is in contact with the parties to ensure that the emergency aid is released to the civilian population.
Can be admitted within the next 24 hours
On Friday morning, the UN’s humanitarian organization reports that they are in “deep and advanced” negotiations with all relevant actors to ensure emergency aid as soon as possible.
The UN believes it could happen within the next 24 hours.
At the same time, an unnamed source claims to CNN that it is uncertain whether Gaza will receive the emergency aid on Friday due to security challenges and road work.
– I wouldn’t bet money on those trailers getting through on Friday, said the unnamed source to the channel.
The source, who is familiar with the discussions between Egypt and the US, refers to necessary road work in the buffer zone on the Egyptian side. In addition, there are other details that need to be resolved to ensure that this shipment does not become a one-off.
A convoy of trucks with emergency aid stands ready at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Friday 20 October.
Photo: AMR ABDALLAH DALSH / Reuters
165 trucks are waiting at the border
The Rafah crossing is the only route into or out of Gaza that is not controlled by Israel.
The border has been closed to both emergency aid and evacuations following Hamas’s attack on 7 October. Since then, neither food, water, medicine nor fuel has been allowed to enter the 2.3 million people who live there.
At the border are 165 trucks with humanitarian aid, ready to move into the Gaza Strip to assist the civilian population that has been under a complete blockade since 9 October.
After pressure from the US, Israel has agreed that 20 trucks with aid shipments consisting of water, food and medicine can pass through the border crossing at Rafah.
100 Israeli attacks last night
On the night of Friday, Israeli warplanes attacked over a hundred targets in the Gaza Strip. This is according to the Israeli army.
The targets were tunnel shafts, ammunition depots and command centers linked to militant Palestinians. A mosque in Jabalia north of Gaza City was also attacked. According to the IDF, the mosque was used by Hamas to store weapons.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, 21 civilians killed and 79 wounded in an attack on six residential buildings in Khan Younis in the south. Most were women and children. Wafa is connected to the Palestinian Authority.
Rescue workers after the attack on residential buildings in southern Gaza.
Photo: Mohammed Salem / Reuters
Since the Hamas attack, the Israeli army has carried out thousands of airstrikes against Gaza. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the attacks have claimed 4,137 human lives so far.
This week there was also an explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital. American intelligence estimates that between 100 and 300 lost their lives. Hamas claims 500 were killed.
No one has so far claimed responsibility for the explosion, and the number of dead has not been confirmed by independent sources.
Israel has simultaneously announced a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
– Any escalation of Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip will be disastrous for the population there, says Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. That is what NTB writes.
Palestinians in Gaza search for injured and dead after rocket attack.
Photo: AFP
Diplomacy in high gear
Since Thursday, several world leaders have made the trip to Israel and Egypt. Both US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have visited Israel to express their support and sympathy for the country.
But for Biden, it was also important to negotiate an agreement between Egypt and Israel to allow emergency aid to Gaza, which he could report on the flight home from the Middle East that they had agreed on.
Last night, Joe Biden gave a speech to the American people, in which he compared militant Hamas to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Photo: Evan Vucci / AP
UN chief António Guterres traveled to Cairo on Thursday with the aim of opening the border between Egypt and Gaza, so that emergency aid can enter the Gaza Strip.
He also spoke about the UN’s wishes in the war.
– Hamas must release its hostages and Israel must give Gaza unlimited access to first aid.
Guterres also demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and stressed the urgency of humanitarian aid in the area.
Need 100 trucks every day
Earlier this week, Israel gave 1.1 million Palestinians short deadlines to flee from north to south Gaza. On the night of Thursday, the border town of Rafah in the south was bombed.
According to the Egyptian authorities, the bombs have caused extensive damage and limited capacity on the roads in the border town, which were supposed to be used to transport emergency aid.
UN emergency aid chief Martin Griffiths estimated earlier on Wednesday that around 100 trucks of emergency aid are needed a day to meet the enormous humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it hopes the border crossing will open on Friday, and that it is ready to deliver emergency aid.
2023-10-20 12:32:51
#Emergency #aid #Gaza #arrive #day
