(Al-Arish) Food, medicine, water purifiers, hygiene products, blankets… In Egyptian Sinai, humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip is flowing to Al-Arich airport, which has even reopened one of its landing strips to be able to receive everything.
A few dozen kilometers further east, stands Rafah, the border post that Egypt promises to open on Friday, the only opening on the small Palestinian territory ravaged by wars and poverty which is not at the hands of Israel.
For the head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, the Rafah terminal and Al-Arich airport “are not only vital, they are the only hope of Gazans, their lifeline”.
“We receive two to three aid planes per day, chartered by humanitarian agencies or states” who want to send food, water or medical equipment to the 2.4 million Palestinians besieged and bombed by Israel, Ahmed Ali, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent, told AFP.
As soon as they are placed on the tarmac reserved for the military, the aid cargoes are loaded into trucks.
“More than catastrophic”
Israel, which has imposed a strict blockade on Gaza for 16 years and has decreed a “complete siege” there since the start of the deadly war launched on October 7 after an attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on its soil, has finally given its agreement for the passage of help.
But now, it is Egypt which is asking for time: it assures to repair the roads which connect its territory to Gaza after four Israeli bombings on the terminal.
In the meantime, pallets of aid are stored in warehouses in Al-Arich, the capital of North Sinai, explains Mr. Ali. And as soon as the green light is given, he adds, 250 volunteers are ready to transport them to the border.
On Thursday, an Emirati plane unloaded nine tonnes of aid from UNICEF. The fourth in a week now that an air point connects Dubai and Al-Arich, notably for the World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Because in Gaza, the situation is “more than catastrophic” with stocks almost empty after 13 days of war, explains Sara Alzawqari, UNICEF communications manager for the Gulf.
“We have distributed almost all the aid we had inside Gaza,” she reports.
“We are struggling to operate the only functioning water desalination plant whose capacity is greatly reduced” by shortages of fuel oil and power now that Gaza’s only power plant is shut down, continues -She.
” Hurry up ”
In retaliation for the more than 1,400 deaths on its soil, Israel has relentlessly bombed the Gaza Strip since the bloody attack by Hamas – in power in the territory. There will soon be no more water, fuel or food, UN agencies continue to warn.
“Equipment and medicines have also been provided to hospitals, but given the number of injured, hospital beds and essential medicines are lacking,” adds Ms.me Alzawqari, while the authorities in Gaza count more than 3,700 dead and 12,500 injured.
However, “time is running out and the number of victims among children is only increasing”, she warns, the situation “is getting worse by the minute”.
Israel, Egypt and the United States have agreed on a first convoy of “20 trucks”, a totally insufficient figure for the UN which wants “100 trucks per day” to feed the Gazans who, already before war, 60% of them depended on food aid.
Although food, water and fuel are the priority, UNICEF has nevertheless slipped other boxes into the trucks: educational game kits.
Because, says Mme Alzawqari, children must be able to continue “playing and learning”.