DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Aid trucks entered Gaza from southern Israel on Sunday under a new deal to bypass the Rafah border crossing with Egypt after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of it earlier this month. But it was unclear whether humanitarian groups would be able to access the aid due to ongoing fighting in the area.
Egypt refuses to reopen its side of the Rafah crossing until control of the Gaza side is returned to the Palestinians. It agreed to temporarily divert traffic through Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing, Gaza’s main cargo terminal, following a phone call between US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
But that border crossing was largely inaccessible due to fighting related to the Israeli offensive in the nearby city of Rafah. Israel says it has allowed hundreds of trucks in, but United Nations agencies say it is usually too dangerous to pick up aid on the other side.
The war between Israel and Hamas, now in its eighth month, has killed more than 35,800 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which makes no distinction between civilians and combatants in its count. About 80% of the population of 2.3 million have fled their homes, severe hunger is widespread and UN officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.
Hamas unleashed the war with its attack on Israel on October 7, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized some 250 hostages. Hamas is still holding about 100 hostages and the remains of about 30 others after most of the rest were released during a ceasefire last year.
Hamas claimed to have captured an Israeli soldier during fighting in northern Gaza and late Saturday released a video showing a wounded man being dragged through a tunnel. The Israeli military denied that any of its soldiers had been captured, and Hamas provided no other evidence to support its claim.
On Sunday, Egyptian state television Al-Qahera TV broadcast images of trucks entering Gaza through Kerem Shalom. Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in the Sinai Peninsula, which is handling the delivery of aid from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, told The Associated Press that 200 aid trucks and four fuel trucks are planned to be sent to Kerem Shalom will be sent. Sunday.
It was not immediately clear whether the UN would be able to withdraw aid from Gaza.
South Gaza has been largely cut off from aid since Israel launched what it said was a limited incursion into Rafah on May 6. Since then, more than 1 million Palestinians have fled the city, most of whom have already been expelled from other parts of the besieged area. .
Northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli forces for months and where famine is already underway according to the UN World Food Program, is still receiving aid through two land routes opened by Israel, despite global outrage after Israeli attacks killed seven aid workers killed. in April.
Several dozen trucks also enter Gaza every day via a US-built floating pier, but the capacity remains far below the 150 trucks per day that officials had hoped for. Aid agencies say the area needs a total of 600 trucks a day to meet colossal humanitarian needs.
Stormy weather caused a strip of jetty and a small US military ship to come ashore near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on Saturday. The US Central Command said four of its ships were hit by rough seas, two of which were anchored at the pier off the coast of Gaza and another two in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel must take over Rafah to eliminate the last remaining battalions of Hamas and achieve its goal of “total victory” over the militants, who have recently regrouped in other parts of Gaza where the army had already had surgery.
Netanyahu is facing increasing pressure from the Israeli public to make a deal with Hamas to free the remaining hostages, something Hamas has refused to do without guarantees of an end to the war and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have ruled that out.
Scuffles broke out between Israeli police and protesters in Tel Aviv on Saturday after thousands of people gathered to demonstrate against the government and demand the return of the hostages. The demonstrators called for Netanyahu’s resignation and demanded new elections.
International pressure is also increasing as Israel becomes increasingly isolated on the world stage due to the war.
Last week, three European countries announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, and the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders.
On Friday, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its military offensive in Rafah. The United Nations’ highest court also said Israel must allow war crimes investigators access to Gaza.
Israel is unlikely to follow the orders and has strongly condemned the ICC’s moves to issue arrest warrants for its leaders. Israel says it is doing everything it can to prevent harm to civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in densely populated residential areas.
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Magdy reported from Cairo.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
