This morning, Saturday, October 21, 2023, humanitarian aid began entering the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side through the Rafah border crossing.
The US Embassy in Jerusalem had previously announced that the Rafah land crossing would open at ten in the morning, for relief aid to enter the Gaza Strip.
The embassy said in a security report, via a tweet on “X,” that “we have received information that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will open on Saturday, October 21, at 10:00 a.m. local time.”
She added, "If the borders are opened, we do not know how long they will remain open for foreign citizens to leave Gaza."
For his part, Salama Maarouf, head of the government media office in Gaza, said: “Coinciding with the beginning of the entry of the first limited convoy of basic needs through the Rafah crossing, we are waiting for UNRWA - as the receiving party - to carry out its duty in directing these needs to those who deserve them in various places in the Strip . ” Gaza".
Marouf warned that this limited convoy will not be able to change the humanitarian catastrophe that the Gaza Strip is experiencing, adding, “It is important to establish a safe corridor that works around the clock to provide the humanitarian and service needs that have become completely missing, and to allow the wounded and injured to exit to receive appropriate medical care in light of the inability to provide it.” of the health system currently.
He also stressed the need to open the Rafah crossing permanently and bring in all necessary needs for the service and humanitarian sectors urgently in light of the near exhaustion of fuel, the depletion of the stock of medicines and medical consumables and its reaching the lowest level, the scarcity of food supplies and the lack of electricity.
