First trucks loaded with aid crossed the border from Egypt on Sunday to the besieged and hungry Gaza Strip, where Israel has declared a daily fighting break for humanitarian purposes in several sectors.
• Read also: Israel announces the resumption of humanitarian aid drops to Gaza
• Read also: Israeli soldiers intercept a boat of Propalestinian activists for Gaza
Images of AFP show a line of trucks loaded with white bags crossing, on the Egyptian side, the entrance to the Rafah terminal, which leads to the south of the Palestinian territory.
AFP
However, the trucks do not enter the Gaza Strip directly, where the border post has been closed for more than a year, and will have to travel before that to go to the Israeli crossing point of Kerem Shalom to be inspected.
The Israeli army had announced earlier that it has parachuted humanitarian aid on Gaza, after weeks of international pressure to allow the arrival of food and other vital food for the population of the territory ravaged by more than 21 months of war.
“The dream of my life has become to eat a piece of bread and to be able to give it to my children. Every day, my husband goes to dawn to try to find flour (…) but he returns without anything, “said Suad Ishtaywi, a 30-year-old woman who lives in a tent in Tal al-Hawa, in the city of Gaza (North).
“We heard information that trucks carrying flour and food were going to enter Gaza. We hope that if they enter, they will reach us, ”she added.
Israel, which has beset the Gaza Strip since the start of the war against Hamas on October 7, 2023, had imposed an airtight blockade in the territory in early March, very partially relaxed at the end of May, which led to very serious shortages of food and essential goods.
AFP
The UN and NGOs are now alarmed by an outbreak of infantile malnutrition and a risk of generalized famine among its more than two million inhabitants.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Sunday “a humanitarian break in civil centers and humanitarian corridors to allow the distribution of aid”.
This “tactical break” will be observed daily, from Sunday, “from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (3 a.m. to 1 pm, local time in Montreal)”, starting with the zones of Deir-el-Balah, in the center of Gaza, Al-Mawasi, in the South, and the city of Gaza, in the North, where there is not for the moment of military operations, said the army.
AFP
On Saturday, civil defense in the Palestinian territory said that Israeli bombings and fire killed more than 50 people.
«A constant flow»
Israel denies any blockage of aid and claims not to be responsible for shortages, accusing Hamas of looting cargoes and humanitarian organizations not to distribute them. But these organizations claim that Israel imposes excessive restrictions on the entrance to aid in the Palestinian territory, of which it controls access.
During the night, Israel broadcast the images of an aircraft dropping packages including “seven lots of aid containing flour, sugar and canned”, during an operation carried out “in coordination with international organizations”, according to the army.
“This is a welcome step, but we have to see real progress in the field,” Bushra Khalidi, an OXFAM NGO manager, told AFP, highlighting the need for “a constant and large -scale flow of help”.
AFP
“We need a permanent cease-fire, a complete lifting of the seat and clear guarantees that it is not just a temporary gesture,” he said.
The parachutages, already implemented in 2024 by several countries, had been criticized by many humanitarian officials, who had deemed this method dangerous and of limited scope.
“Expensive, ineffective”
On Saturday, the United Kingdom announced that it is preparing to drop help and evacuate “children needing medical assistance”. The Emirates said that they “immediately” resumed parachuting.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said on Saturday that these parachutages “would not end the famine that worsens. They are expensive, ineffective and can even kill hungry civilians, “he said.
On Saturday, a boat exploited by the Propalestinian movement “flotilla for freedom” which was heading towards Gaza charged with aid was intercepted by the Israeli army. Israel said the ship was “safe to the coast of Israel”.
The war in Gaza was launched by an unprecedented attack by the Islamist Hamas movement in Israel on October 7, 2023, which led to the Israeli side of 1219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count made from official data.
In response, Israel launched an offensive which left at least 59,733 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health of Hamas, deemed reliable by the UN.
