Aid for Gaza 'being stalled' at Rafah crossing, say eyewitnesses, NGOs

Israel is deliberately delaying the entry of desperately needed aid into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, The New Arab's sister site reported Saturday.

International and humanitarian organisations had called for about 100 trucks worth of aid to be let in to Gaza through the crossing per day, as the enclave reels under intensive Israeli bombing that has lasted nearly a month and killed close to 10,000 people, almost half of them children.

Some 35 trucks were stranded on the Egyptian side of the crossing, eyewitness at the border told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, while only 24 trucks managed to enter the buffer zone between the gates of the crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

The Union of Civil Associations, a body overseeing the work of Egyptian NGOs, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that large amounts of local and international aid was being stored in warehouses close to the Egypt-Gaza border.

Aid deliveries to the Egyptian side of the border have been abundant, but Israel has been slow to approve entry into Gaza.

Israel had imposed a total siege on Gaza soon after its bombardment of the enclave began on 7 October, and long resisted international pleas for deliveries of essentials like food and medicine to be let in.

A trickle of aid far less than the amount needed has since been allowed into Gaza, and Israeli ministers have said that fuel needed to power generators – including those at hospitals – will not be allowed in under any circumstances.