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The National
4 days ago
- Politics
- The National
Gaza aid lorries back at Rafah crossing as Egypt strains to avoid famine blame
After months of closure due to an Israeli military blockade, Egypt 's Rafah border crossing has been revived as a critical lifeline for Gaza -bound aid. Thousands of lorries laden with aid have returned to North Sinai province, preparing to enter the besieged strip. The crossing has become a contentious issue for Egypt, accused by critics of keeping it shut, arresting activists and assisting Israel. Speaking to The National from the border point on Wednesday, the governor of North Sinai, Maj Gen Khaled Megawer, described the accusations as baseless and part of a 'comprehensive smear campaign' by Muslim Brotherhood factions aiming to undermine the state. Seeking to counteract the criticism, the heads of Egypt's largest aid providers to Gaza – including the Egyptian Red Crescent and the National Alliance for Development Work – gave speeches from Rafah to journalists transported by the government from Cairo. In an impassioned address, Red Crescent chief Amal Imam revealed the organisation had delivered more than 500,000 tonnes of aid to Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023, carried by 36,000 lorries. Dr Imam denounced what she called the injustice and brutality of Israel's war on Gaza, and joined the many aid workers on the border who told The National their biggest hope was for a ceasefire and an end to Palestinians' suffering. The National Alliance, which is made up of more than a dozen charities that pool their resources, said it has delivered 70,000 tonnes of aid to Gaza since the start of the war. It has organised 11 convoys, the latest being mobilised on Wednesday. Representing the alliance, former immigration minister Nabila Makram hailed Egypt's support of Palestine and said an awareness campaign had been launched to educate young Egyptians about their country's backing for the Palestinian people and their cause. Responding to calls from Egyptians for any action to help mitigate the famine, Egypt began putting pressure on the Israeli side to allow the entry of aid last month. Deliveries had been halted for months and 'Gaza was starving to death', said Maj Gen Megawer. The governor recounted a poor elderly woman bringing him a carton of food and asking him to send it to Gaza, a testament to how distressing Egyptians have found the famine caused by Israel's blockade. The pressure was successful, he said, in that Israel made an informal agreement with Cairo in July 'outside the framework of its dealings with Hamas ' to allow the entry of aid. Israel has also faced intense criticism from governments all over the world, including France, Germany, the UK and even some factions within the Trump administration, for starving Gazans and killing civilians on their way to receive aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. However, beyond humanitarian concerns, Maj Gen Megawer said Egypt was also protecting its strategic interests by cranking up pressure to resume aid and end the famine. Chief among those goals is not allowing the displacement of Palestinians from their land in Egypt, as US President Donald Trump has suggested. Zionists have for decades called for the absorption of Palestinians by neighbouring countries. 'When Gazans starve, what are they going to do?" the governor said. "They are going to try to enter Israel or throw themselves into the sea or come to Egypt, which to us is a red line, so we had to get food inside and bear the economic losses that come with that." That position was reiterated by Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, who told a state news outlet that Egypt rejected the displacement of Palestinians and that their right to their land needed to be protected through a permanent and immediate ceasefire. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has accused Israel of turning the war "into a war of starvation, extermination and the liquidation of the Palestinian cause," arguing that "it is no longer a war to achieve political goals or release hostages". He said the war "has long surpassed any logic or justification," and that "the lives of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank are being used as a political bargaining chip". However, even as Egypt has defensively sought to remedy its image and highlight its pivotal role in aid deliveries to the enclave, reports from inside Gaza say that aid is not being delivered in sufficient amounts and that some is being looted by armed gangs or turned back at Israeli security checkpoints. An Egyptian Red Crescent worker stationed at the border told The National that each day, the lorries are prepared and around 600 enter at 5.30am. The aid workers are then forced to wait until the end of the day to see how many of the lorries have actually made it in. She explained that every day since aid deliveries resumed through Rafah in July, hundreds of lorries have been turned back daily. 'Yes, of course there is a great deal of obstruction from the Israeli side, this is a war after all, not a commercial exchange,' Maj Gen Megawer told The National. 'And you are dealing with Hamas on one side and Israel on the other, two parties of the utmost difficulty. But we will continue to push for more food and for an end to the famine and the war.' While journalists were being briefed on Wednesday afternoon, the governor's speech was repeatedly interrupted by the loud honks from lorries exiting the access road to the right of the Rafah crossing, which they use to get to the Karem Abu Salem crossing where cargoes are inspected by Israel. Since July, aid deliveries to Gaza have resumed but remain severely constrained. Between July 20 and August 3, more than 12,000 tonnes of food were brought into Gaza through the UN-run mechanism. However, the UN says more than 90 per cent of these supplies were looted by armed groups or offloaded by starving crowds before reaching warehouses.
Al Arabiya
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Freedom Flotilla aid boat approaching Gaza shores, group says
The activist group Freedom Flotilla announced Saturday that its latest aid boat dispatched to Gaza was approaching the territory and planned to land there the following morning in defiance of an Israeli blockade. The vessel, named the Handala after a popular Palestinian cartoon character, was just 105 nautical miles (194 kilometers) from its destination, organizers said -- closer to Gaza than its predecessor the Madleen was when it was intercepted in June. The Israeli navy said it would likewise block the new vessel from reaching the war-torn Palestinian territory. 'The [Israeli army] enforces the legal maritime security blockade on the Gaza Strip and is prepared for a wide range of scenarios, which it will act upon in accordance with directives of the political echelon,' an army spokesperson told AFP on Saturday. Carrying 19 activists and two journalists from various countries, the Handala first set sail from Sicily on July 13 in a bid to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza and deliver aid to its population. The territory is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with the United Nations and NGOs warning of an imminent famine. The Handala's crew said in a post on X that they would go on a hunger strike if the Israeli army intercepted the boat and detained its passengers. The last boat sent by Freedom Flotilla, the Madleen, was intercepted by the Israeli army in international waters on June 9 and towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod. It carried 12 campaigners on board, including prominent Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The Independent
25-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Starmer cabinet split as PM facing ‘overwhelming pressure' to recognise Palestinian state immediately
Speculation is mounting that Keir Starmer is close to agreeing to officially recognise a Palestinian state, with pressure from inside Labour described as 'overwhelming'. The prime minister is set to hold a call with fellow E3 leaders – French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz – today to discuss the crisis in Gaza amid growing fears of mass starvation being caused by the Israeli blockade on food and aid supplies. But it has been overshadowed by France's decision to recognise Palestine, adding to pressure from divisions within Sir Keir's own cabinet for the UK to follow suit. It comes as Sir Keir used his strongest language yet on the worsening crisis in the embattled enclave, describing the actions by Benjamin Netanyahu as 'unspeakable and indefensible'. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who came close to losing her seat to a pro-Gaza independent MP in last year's general election, and several other cabinet ministers want immediate recognition of Palestine as a state. But it is being claimed there is resistance from cabinet ministers closely linked to the Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) group, whose members include Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Another senior minister linked to LFI, technology secretary Peter Kyle, also made the case for not recognising a Palestinian state immediately during broadcast rounds on Friday morning. He insisted: 'The timeline for peace and stability and a negotiated solution to the war that's currently unfolding and ultimately Palestinian statehood is in the gift of Palestine and Israel themselves. It cannot be imposed from the outside.' One senior Labour figure told The Independent that 'the pressure feels overwhelming' on the prime minister to recognise Palestine. And Labour's biggest financial backers, the trade unions, have reiterated their demands through the TUC for immediate recognition of Palestine as well as the suspension of a trade agreement with Israel. It comes after a majority of members on the powerful Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the Commons have also issued a report overnight demanding immediate recognition of a Palestinian state. Added to that, the emergence of Jeremy Corbyn's new party, which has the support of pro-Gaza independent MPs poses a major problem for Sir Keir. There is now speculation within Labour that Sir Keir may go ahead with recognition after he meets Donald Trump in Scotland on Monday, to ensure that the bilateral with the US president is not derailed by the issue. The US has overnight condemned France for 'rewarding terrorism' by recognising a Palestinian state. Speaking out against the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which has seen 45 people die from starvation in four days, Sir Keir edged closer to agreeing to formal recognition of Palestine as a state. In a statement on Thursday night, he said: 'We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. 'A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis.'
The National
20-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Israeli attacks kill 12 people waiting for aid in Gaza
Four-year-old girl dies of malnutrition amid Israeli blockade Six Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on northern Gaza Israeli strikes kill two in south Lebanon Nine month-old boy, sole survivor of Israeli strike, now faces starvation At least 58,765 Palestinians killed and 140,484 wounded since Gaza war began
Al Jazeera
12-07-2025
- Health
- Al Jazeera
Gaza is running out of blood
I live near Nasser Hospital in the west of Khan Younis city. Almost every day, I hear desperate calls for blood donations made on loudspeakers out of the hospital. It has been like that for more than a year. The hospital, like other barely functioning health facilities in Gaza, has been regularly overwhelmed with victims of continuing Israeli air attacks. Since the end of May, it has also received many victims shot by Israeli soldiers at aid distribution sites. I had donated blood before, and I felt it was my duty to do it again. So one morning last month, I headed to Nasser Hospital. While the blood was being drawn from my arm, I felt severe dizziness, and I thought I was going to faint. My friend, Nurse Hanan, who was one of the workers in the blood donation campaign, rushed to me and raised my legs to increase the blood flow to my brain until I felt better. She went to test my blood, and after 10 minutes returned to tell me that I was suffering from severe anaemia and malnutrition. My blood did not contain the minimum nutrients necessary for donation. Hanan told me that my case was not an exception. She explained that most of the people who visited the hospital to donate blood suffer from anaemia and malnutrition as a result of the ongoing Israeli blockade and the absence of nutritious food, such as meat, milk, eggs and fruits. Two-thirds of the blood units donated at the hospital have extremely low haemoglobin and iron levels, which makes them unusable for blood transfusions. In early June, Dr Sofia Za'arab, director of the Laboratory and Blood Bank, told the media that the severe shortage of donated blood units has reached 'critical' levels, threatening the lives of patients, many of whom require urgent blood transfusions. The whole of Gaza needs 400 units daily. 'Despite contacting the Ministry of Health in the West Bank to transfer blood units, the occupation authorities prevented their entry [into Gaza],' Dr Za'arab said. After the failed blood donation, I returned home crushed. I knew the famine was affecting me. I have lost a lot of weight. I suffer from constant fatigue, chronic joint pain, headaches, and dizziness. Even when I write my journalistic articles or study, I need to take short breaks. But the revelation of how bad my health condition is really struck me. For months now, my family and I have been eating only pasta and rice, due to the astronomical cost of flour. We eat one meal a day, and sometimes even half a meal to give more food to my younger siblings. I worry about them being malnourished. They have also lost a lot of weight and are constantly asking for food. We have not seen meat, eggs, or dairy products since Israel imposed the full blockade on March 2, and, even before that, we rarely did. The Gaza health authorities have said at least 66 children have died from starvation since the start of the Israeli genocidal war. According to UNICEF, more than 5,000 children were admitted to health facilities across the Strip for treatment of acute malnutrition in May, alone. Even if some of these children are miraculously saved, they will not have the opportunity to grow up healthy, to develop their full potential, and enjoy stable, secure lives. But beyond the anxiety I felt about the toll starvation has taken on my body and on bodies of my family members, I also felt pain because I had failed to help the wounded. I wanted to help those who are suffering from war injuries and fighting for their lives in the hospital because I am a human being. After all, the urge to help another person is one of the most human instincts we have. Solidarity is what defines our humanity. When you want to save a life but are prevented from doing it, it means a whole new horizon of despair has opened. When you want to help with whatever little you have – in this case, part of yourself – but are denied, this leaves a deep scar on the soul. For 21 months now, we have been denied all our human rights inscribed in international law: The right to water and food, the right to healthcare and housing, the right to education, the right to free movement and asylum, the right to life. Now, we have reached a point where even the urge to save others' lives, the right to show human solidarity, is being denied to us. All this is not by chance, but by design. The genocide is not only killing people; it is also targeting people's humanity and solidarity. From charities and food kitchens being bombed, to people being encouraged to carry knives and form gangs to rob and steal food, the strong solidarity that has kept the Palestinian people going through this genocide – through 75 years of suffering and dispossession – is directly under attack. Cracks may be appearing in our communal bonds, but we shall repair them. We are one big family in Gaza, and we know how to heal and support each other. The humanity of the Palestinian people has always stood victorious. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
