52 aid trucks enter Gaza via Kerem Shalom crossing: Egyptian media

By Ibrahim Al-Khazen

CAIRO (AA) - A total of 52 humanitarian aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip through the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, Egyptian media reported Friday.

The trucks entered the besieged enclave temporarily, due to Israel's occupation of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in the southern part of the strip, the Cairo News channel said.

On May 24, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and US President Joe Biden agreed to send humanitarian aid and fuel to be delivered to the UN at the Kerem Shalom crossing temporarily, “until a legal mechanism could be established to reopen the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side,” according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.

The first aid trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing and were received by the UN on May 30, the channel reported.

This temporary Egyptian-American arrangement for delivering aid to Gaza through the UN continues to operate, as Egypt rejects the “legitimization of Israel's occupation” of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, which occurred on May 7.

On June 2, Cairo hosted a security meeting attended by Egyptian, American, and Israeli officials to discuss reopening the Rafah crossing.

During the meeting, Egypt maintained its firm stance that Israel must withdraw from the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing for it to resume operations, according to Egyptian media reports.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last Oct. 7 despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 36,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio