The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, urged today from the Rafah border crossing, which connects Egypt with the Gaza Strip, the opening of the passage for humanitarian aid intended for the population of the Palestinian enclave, under bombardment by Israel and without water, electricity, food and gasoline for 12 days.
In a visit to the pass, the only access to the Strip that is not under Israeli control, Guterres stressed that the entry of aid to the area is “absolutely essential” and that this “humanitarian operation is not normal”, but an operation ” urgent” to rescue people “in a state of war.
Guterres is on the border on a lightning visit from Cairo, where he arrived yesterday to meet with the Egyptian authorities and to participate tomorrow, Saturday, in an international summit organized by the government of Abdel Fattah al Sisi to address the crisis of violence that began last day. 8 with the terrorist assault by the armed wing of Hamas on Israeli territory.
As seen on the Egyptian television channel Al Qahira News, Guterres gave a brief speech in front of the crossing, still closed and under repair, and in front of a few dozen Egyptian humanitarian workers who are waiting for the border to open so that aid can enter.
There Guterres noted that the UN is “working to ensure that the trucks arrive as soon as possible, with the greatest amount of aid possible” to the population in need, while insisting on the need “to fix this situation as soon as possible.”
“It is impossible to be here and not have a broken heart, there are two million people going through hardship, without food, without medicine… They need everything to survive. On this side, we have trucks and everything necessary for them. Those trucks, no They are just trucks, but they are what differentiates life from death, we need to pass as many as possible,” said the UN official.
The Portuguese pointed out that there is an agreement between Israel, Egypt and the UN for the entry of aid, “with a series of conditions,” and pointed out that his organization is looking “so that aid trucks can enter every day.”
After his brief speech, Guterres headed back to Al Arish airport, the closest to Rafah and where planes with aid for Gaza have been arriving for days.
At the moment there is no movement of trucks entering Gaza
This morning an Egyptian security source informed EFE that the opening of the crossing will depend on the speed at which the damage that exists on the Palestinian side of the border is paved and repaired.
In the live broadcast on Egyptian television you can see how heavy machinery is still working on repairing the place, damaged by four bombings launched by Israel since last October 7, as revealed by the Egyptian Government.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced two days ago that he had agreed with his Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al Sisi, that said aid be delivered through the crossing.
The first batch of authorized aid is expected to be about 20 trucks, according to Biden.
The Egyptian Government has reiterated that the crossing has been open on the Egyptian side, but on the Palestinian side it was closed because, on the one hand, it did not have permission from Israel and, on the other, the road was destroyed due to four bombings that has been launched by the Jewish State in retaliation to the brutal attack by the Islamist group Hamas that triggered the current war.
The Rafah crossing was attacked by Israel, on the Palestinian side, even as workers were working to repair it, resulting in four Egyptian workers being injured, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri revealed.