From the Liveblog of
Sunday, May 26, 2024
Egyptian Red Crescent says aid trucks starting to enter Gaza via Kerem Shalom
About 200 aid trucks, including four fuel trucks, are expected to enter Gaza today, Khaled Zayed, the head of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society in North Sinai, tells Reuters.
The aid trucks are entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom Crossing after they were rerouted from the Rafah border following an agreement between Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and US President Joe Biden.
Aid has been piling up in Egypt since Israel launched the operation to take over the Gazan side of the Rafah Crossing with Egypt on May 7.
Not wanting to be seen as complicit with Israel’s military operation to take over the crossing, Egypt has refused to reopen Rafah until Israeli troops have withdrawn from the other side.
Sissi and Biden agreed in a phone call on Friday to temporarily send humanitarian aid and fuel to the United Nations via Israel’s Kerem Shalom Crossing until legal mechanisms were in place to reopen the Rafah Border Crossing from the Palestinian side.
