Third aid convoy enters Gaza via Egypt border crossing

RAFAH (AFP): An aid convoy entered the besieged Gaza Strip on Monday via the Rafah border crossing, AFP correspondents on the Egyptian and Palestinian sides said, the third since war erupted on October 7.

More than a dozen lorries crossed Rafah, the correspondents said, adding to a previous total of 34 trucks that had entered Gaza on Saturday and Sunday according to an Egyptian Red Cross official.

The United Nations says at least 100 trucks a day are needed to provide the basic needs of Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants as a massive Israeli bombardment triggered by the Hamas attack rages on, with thousands killed already.

Relief workers said far more aid was needed to address the spiraling humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where half the territory’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes. The UN humanitarian agency said Saturday’s convoy carried about four percent of an average day’s imports before the war and “a fraction of what is needed after 13 days of complete siege.”

The Israeli military said the humanitarian situation was “under control,” even as the UN called for 100 trucks a day to enter.

Israel repeated its calls for people to leave northern Gaza, including by dropping leaflets from the air. It estimated 700,000 have already fled. But hundreds of thousands remain. That would raise the risk of mass civilian casualties in any ground offensive.