(Tel Aviv) Israel announced on Wednesday that it was authorizing the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip from Egypt, while it imposed a strict siege on the Palestinian territory, which has been relentlessly shelled since the bloody Hamas attack on the 7th. october.
“Israel will not prevent humanitarian aid from Egypt as long as it involves food, water and medicine for the civilian population in the southern Gaza Strip,” a statement from the office said of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Any supplies that reach Hamas will be neutralized.”
“A positive development, which we have been asking for since the start of the conflict,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Choukri said on Wednesday in an interview with the Saudi television channel Al-Arabiya.
Joe Biden, for his part, affirmed on Wednesday that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, with whom he had just spoken, had “agreed” to “let up to 20 trucks cross” the border to deliver humanitarian aid in Gaza.
“If Hamas (seizes them) or does not let them pass (..) then it will be over,” warned the American president during an interview with journalists aboard his plane, during a stopover in Germany , judging that his Egyptian counterpart was “totally cooperative” and that he “deserved a lot of recognition” for his action.
However, the passage of aid “requires organization”, tempered Mr. Choukri. He explained on the Cairo-based Al-Ghad channel that “the road allowing the delivery of aid between Gaza and the Rafah crossing point was destroyed”, after several Israeli bombings on the Palestinian side of the border.
In Egypt’s Sinai, on Wednesday evening, the lines of aid trucks had not moved from the area around the terminal, still closed, where they have been waiting for several days, according to witnesses.
During a visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, where he met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden clarified that Israel had approved the entry of aid into Gaza via Egypt “as quickly as possible.” “. The United States is working with its partners to get “trucks across the border as soon as possible,” he added.
PHOTO MAXENCE D’AVERSA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Map of the Gaza Strip showing the area that the Israeli army ordered residents to evacuate, and the humanitarian aid zone announced by the Israeli army.
Joe Biden considered that the release of the hostages, whose number is estimated at 199 by Israeli authorities, was the “highest priority”.
The statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office specifies that Israel will not authorize any humanitarian aid from its soil to the territory of Gaza, controlled by Hamas, without the release of people kidnapped by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7.
Hamas claims that between “200 and 250” hostages are being held in the Gaza Strip and claimed that 22 of those kidnapped were killed in Israeli strikes.
Joe Biden also announced that he would ask Congress “this week” for “unprecedented” aid for ally Israel, which he warned not to repeat the “mistakes” made by the United States after the attacks on September 11, 2001, motivated by “anger”.
100 trucks per day
Humanitarian aid to Gaza – once it can cross the border between Egypt and the Palestinian territory – must be “substantial”, of the order of 100 trucks per day, and must be secure, said Wednesday the head of humanitarian emergencies at the United Nations on CNN.
“We need to start with a significant number of trucks and we need to get to 100 trucks a day, which used to be the case with the Gaza aid program,” Martin Griffiths, the UN coordinator for humanitarian affairs, said on Monday. CNN Europe.
He spoke of “incredibly detailed” negotiations with the parties to establish the terms of entry and distribution of aid.
He spoke just hours after US President Joe Biden indicated that he had received assurances from the Israeli government that it will allow this humanitarian aid to pass through the Rafah crossing point.
“We need to be able to have the confidence that we can intervene on a large scale every day, in a deliberate, repetitive and reliable way,” insisted Mr. Griffiths, explaining that the various UN personnel, who are in the band of Gaza, including 14,000 employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), will then be able to distribute it.
“Secondly, we must be able to reach people safely,” insisted Mr. Griffiths, recalling that international humanitarian law requires humanitarian organizations to provide aid where people feel to be safe.
“These two things need to be clarified, confirmed and I hope that will happen in the coming days so that we can start this essential aid program,” explained Martin Griffiths, who has been in Cairo since Tuesday to negotiate with the Egyptian authorities.
Mr. Griffiths stressed that the UN will ensure that aid goes only to civilians and not to the Islamist movement Hamas which controls Gaza.