First Trucks With Humanitarian Aid for Gaza Cross Egypt's Rafah Checkpoint

12:32 GMT, 21 October 2023

Svetlana Ekimenko

Israel’s retaliatory strikes after a large-scale surprise rocket attack launched by Palestinian group Hamas from the Gaza Strip on 7 October have left thousands dead and injured. Furthermore, a complete blockade of the enclave - home to more than two million people - has caused a dire humanitarian catastrophe.

Sputnik

Twenty trucks with medical supplies and food for residents of the Gaza Strip have gone through the Rafah checkpoint on the border with Egypt, with their cargo handed over to the Palestinian Red Crescent, the Egyptian branch of the humanitarian organization said in a statement on 21 October. Once the trucks entered the Gaza Strip, the checkpoint was closed, media reported.

The enclave has been under a complete blockade by Israel, with supplies of water, food and fuel cut off in the wake of the Hamas attack on 7 October.

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A truck belonging to the Egyptian National Alliance carrying humanitarian aid to the war-torn Gaza Strip crosses the Rafah border gate, in Rafah, Egypt, on 21 October 2023.

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Volunteers pray to God after trucks carrying humanitarian aid for the besieged Gaza Strip crosses the Rafah border gate in Egypt on 21 October 2023.

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People gather around the first of 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid that entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on 21 October 2023.

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Aid workers gather around trucks delivering humanitarian aid that entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on 21 October 2023.

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A worker organizes food aid after a convoy of trucks entered the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on 21 October 2023.

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Trucks of the Egyptian Red Crescent carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip cross the Rafah border gate, in Rafah, Egypt, on 21 October 2023.