Aid trucks arrive in Gaza but no deliveries yet: Sources
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Deliveries are badly needed as little aid has reached southern Gaza since May 6.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CAIRO – More than 100 aid trucks managed to reach the Gaza Strip by May 27 morning after an agreement to reroute aid through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, but supplies have not been distributed amid an ongoing Israeli assault, sources said.
Deliveries are badly needed as little aid has reached southern Gaza since May 6, when Israel took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing,
The latest arrivals would be the biggest aid delivery into southern Gaza by far since the launch of Israel’s attacks in Rafah, with most days seeing no trucks crossing the border.
Israeli forces began a ground offensive in the east of Rafah over three weeks ago. An Israeli air strike on May 26 triggered a fire that killed 45 people in a tent camp in Rafah, officials said on May 27, prompting an outcry from global leaders.
Egyptian security sources told Reuters that 123 aid trucks had crossed the border and handed over the goods to the United Nations. An Israeli source confirmed that aid had been brought into the Gaza side and handed over to partners.
An Egyptian aid source said four fuel trucks had also crossed the border.
But Palestinian trucks that went to pick up the aid at the crossing returned empty, UN and Palestinian officials told Reuters.
“Trucks moved through but it was not possible to collect them due to the rocket attacks yesterday and the IAF (Israeli Air Force) strikes overnight,” said a UN official in Gaza, adding that the supplies belonged to the UN’s Palestinian aid agency UNRWA and the World Food Programme.
On May 24, Egypt and the United States agreed to utilise Kerem Shalom until arrangements were made to re-open Rafah from the Palestinian side, the Egyptian presidency said. Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the crossing.
About 200 trucks were expected to come in on May 26, still below what officials say is needed in the strip, home to 2.3 million people, where monitors say famine in some parts is imminent.
KSrelief, a Saudi-funded charity, on May 27 sent a ship carrying nearly 500 tonnes of aid, including food, medical supplies and shelter material for Gaza, the group’s supervisor-general Abdullah Al Rabeeah told Reuters.
The ship is due to arrive at Egypt’s El Arish port within a day and then be offloaded for eventual delivery in southern Gaza. REUTERS
