Border Cross

Egypt’s border crossing opens to let a trickle of desperately needed aid into besieged Gaza

An Israeli airstrike hit the area around Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza City on Saturday after the health facility was warned to evacuate. (Oct. 21) (AP Video by Hasan Slayeh and Imad Issied)

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened Saturday to let a trickle of desperately needed aid into the besieged Palestinian territory for the first time since Israel sealed it off and began pounding it with airstrikes following Hamas’ bloody rampage two weeks ago.

Just 20 trucks were allowed in, an amount aid workers said was insufficient to address the unprecedented humanitarian crisis. More than 200 trucks carrying 3,000 tons of aid have been waiting nearby for days. Half of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza are displaced from their homes, rationing food and drinking dirty water. Hospitals say they are short on medical supplies and fuel for emergency generators due to nationwide power outages. The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry said five hospitals had suspended operations due to fuel shortages and damage from bombings. 

Doctors reported using needles to stitch wounds and using vinegar as a disinfectant until stores ran out of supplies. When the anesthesia wore off, patients' screams could be heard during the surgery.

Doctors Without Borders said Gaza’s health care system is “facing collapse.”

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Palestinians gather over the remains of a destroyed house following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)

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Palestinians gather over the remains of a destroyed house following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)

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A Palestinian boy, wounded in Israeli bombardment on Gaza Strip, cries in a hospital in Deir al-Balah, south of the Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

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Meantime, Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry reported heavy Israeli airstrikes across the territory overnight into Sunday, including southern areas where Israel had told Palestinians to seek refuge. The ministry said that among the sites hit were homes and a cafe in the evacuation zone where dozens of displaced residents had sought shelter.

Israel’s military has said it is striking Hamas members and installations, but does not target civilians.

In a statement posted early Sunday on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, the Israeli military said it had launched a strike on the Al-Ansar mosque at the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Expectations are growing that Israel will launch a ground attack to eradicate Hamas. Israel said Friday it has no plans to maintain long-term control of the small but densely populated Palestinian territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his cabinet late Saturday to discuss expected invasion plans, Israeli media reported.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the country planned to step up airstrikes starting Saturday as it prepares for the next phase of the war.

“We will deepen our attacks to minimize the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks, from today,” Hagari said, repeating his call for Gaza City residents to head south for their safety.

Israel has vowed to crush Hamas but has given few details about what it envisions for Gaza if it succeeds.

Yifat Shasha-Biton, a Cabinet minister, said there was broad consensus in the government that there will have to be a “buffer zone” in Gaza to keep Palestinians away from the border.

“We need to create a distance between the border and our communities,” she told Channel 13 TV, adding that no decisions had been made on its size or other specifics. Tensions have risen in the West Bank, where dozens of Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces, arrest raids and attacks by Jewish settlers. Israeli forces have kept tight control over the West Bank, closing crossings into the territory and checkpoints between cities. According to them, these measures aim to prevent attacks.

Rapha's opening comes after more than a week of high-level diplomacy, including visits to the region by US President Joe Biden and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Israel has insisted no one will enter Gaza until Hamas releases all prisoners from its Oct. 7 attack on the southern Israeli city. advertising 

Late Friday, Hamas released its first captives, an American woman and her teenage daughter. It was not immediately clear whether there was a link between the release and delivery of the aid. Israel says Hamas is still holding at least 210 hostages, but their condition (or whether they are alive) is not yet known.

On Saturday morning, an Associated Press reporter saw 20 trucks heading north from Rafah toward Deir al-Balah, a quiet farming town where many northern refugees have sought refuge. To avoid conflict, hundreds of foreign passport holders living in Rafah have been banned from leaving the country. Dina al-Khatib, a U.S. citizen, said she and her family were desperate to escape. “This is different from previous wars,” she said. She said, "No electricity, no water, no internet, nothing."

According to UNICEF, the truck was carrying 44,000 bottles of drinking water, enough for 22,000 people to drink per day. “The first limited supply of water can save lives, but the need is urgent and enormous,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director.