Egypt has agreed to allow aid trucks into Gaza, as anger rises globally over Israel\u2019s siege of the isolated enclave in response to the brutal, coordinated Hamas attacks nearly two weeks ago. <\/p>\n
The relentless bombardment of Gaza by Israel has sparked growing protests across the Middle East and heightened fears that the war could spiral into a wider regional conflict. <\/p>\n
Speaking on his way back from a visit to Israel, United States President Joe Biden said his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had agreed to open the Rafah Crossing into Gaza for humanitarian aid \u2013 the only one not controlled by Israel. <\/p>\n
Up to 20 trucks from an aid convoy waiting for days at the closed border gate would be allowed into Gaza, said Biden. The roads near the crossing, pocked with craters from Israeli airstrikes, will have to be fixed before the trucks can pass, Biden said. He added that work could be done over eight hours on Thursday before the first aid deliveries on Friday. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s also not clear how much of an impact the initial delivery will make for Gazan civilians caught up in a humanitarian catastrophe that the World Health Organization says is spiraling out of control and impacting hundreds of thousands of people. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope it\u2019s not a non-starter,\u201d regional WHO representative Richard Brennan said Thursday of the aid deal, adding that there were \u201ca lot of complexities to getting this aid operation going.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a sprint. This is just the start. This is a marathon. An absolute marathon,\u201d he said, adding that the goal was to get up to 100 trucks of aid distributed per day. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hearing figures now that suddenly people only have three liters of clean water per person per day, said Brennan, adding that at \u201cabsolute minimum\u201d people need 15 liters for drinking, cooking and basic hygiene. <\/p>\n
Located in Egypt\u2019s north Sinai, the Rafah Crossing is the sole border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. It falls along an 8-mile (12.8-kilometer) fence that separates Gaza from the Sinai desert, and has been tightly controlled on each side of the border for years. <\/p>\n
The decision to open the crossing followed several days of deliberations, despite pressure from the US that Egypt do so. Egypt initially said it won\u2019t allow refugees to flood its territory, has instead insisted that Israel allow it to deliver aid to Gazans, and expressed concerns that Israeli air strikes could hit aid convoys. <\/p>\n
The talks between the two leaders focused \u201con the humanitarian situation in Gaza and ways to facilitate the implementation of humanitarian aid,\u201d according to a statement from the Egyptian president\u2019s office. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe call between President el-Sisi and the American President witnessed the agreement to enter humanitarian aid to the Strip through Rafah crossing in a sustainable manner,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n
Biden said the crossing would only be open for aid, not for evacuations \u2013 leaving an uncertain fate for the 2.2 million Palestinians with no way out of Gaza, including foreign nationals and dual citizens. <\/p>\n
Israel has meanwhile said it will not block humanitarian aid going into Gaza from Egypt, according to a statement Wednesday from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But it will not allow supplies into Gaza from its own territory until Hamas releases all hostages. <\/p>\n
On Thursday morning, at least 30 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on several areas in Rafah, according to the official Palestinian press agency WAFA, an indication of the difficulties of rushing aid through the area. <\/p>\n
Calls for aid have grown increasingly desperate over the past week as Palestinians in Gaza fled south, heeding Israel\u2019s warnings to evacuate from the north \u2013 though many soon found that nowhere was safe in the densely packed strip of land. <\/p>\n
As near constant airstrikes pound the area, overwhelmed hospitals are running out of medicine and fuel to keep the lights on as stretched medics struggle to save lives. <\/p>\n
UN agencies have warned that stores are less than a week away from running out of food and that Gaza\u2019s last seawater desalination plant has shut down, bringing the risk of further deaths, dehydration and waterborne diseases. <\/p>\n