The border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has opened for the first time since the Israeli regime launched its brutal onslaught on the besieged enclave two weeks ago.
Lifeline supplies have entered the Gaza Strip after the conditional opening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday, according to Palestine’s official WAFA news agency.
The news agency added that trucks carrying humanitarian aid for war-torn Gaza wait on the Egyptian side of the border as they start passing into the Rafah border crossing.
WHO said it is working with the Egyptian and Palestine Red Crescent societies to ensure the safe passage of these critical supplies and their delivery to health facilities as hospitals have already reached a “breaking point” due to shortages and depletion of medical supplies.
More than 200 trucks carrying roughly 3,000 tons of aid had been positioned near the crossing for days, but Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera news, which is close to security agencies, said just 20 trucks had crossed into Gaza on Saturday.
Salama Marouf, the head of the Media Office in Gaza, confirmed the opening of the Rafah crossing but called for the establishment of a permanent corridor to address the needs of Palestinians in Gaza.
“We caution that this limited convoy will not be able to change the humanitarian catastrophe that Gaza is currently enduring. It is vital to establish a secure corridor that operates around the clock to provide the essential humanitarian and service needs that are currently entirely absent,” Marouf said.
“We emphasize the necessity of permanently opening the Rafah crossing and urgently supplying all the essential requirements for humanitarian and service sectors, especially in light of the imminent depletion of fuel, the exhaustion of medical supplies and equipment to the minimum level, the shortage of foodstuffs, and the lack of electricity,” he added.
MNA/Press TV