Occupation-controlled border crossings into Gaza closed to aid deliveries on Wednesday

Aid trucks were unable to approach the Karam Abu Salem Crossing on Wednesday due to dangerous conditions in the area, Hesham Edwan, director of the Palestinian side of the crossing told Mada Masr.

The danger meant that only one fuel delivery reportedly entered the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, with supplies already becoming scarce amid dire need after months of Israel’s aggression.

Rafah, the main border crossing for aid deliveries, has been closed since Israel took control of the Palestinian side of the facility on Tuesday, as part of its ongoing operation in the strip’s southernmost city, where over 1.5 million Palestinians are taking shelter.

The Karam Abu Salem crossing, too, has been closed since Sunday, when a Hamas operation killed four Israeli soldiers at the facility on the border between Palestine, Egypt and Israeli-held territories.

Karam Abu Salem was due to be opened on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Israeli military and the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories. “Trucks from Egypt carrying humanitarian aid, including food, water, shelter equipment, medicine and medical equipment donated by the international community, are already arriving at the crossing,” the joint statement said on Wednesday morning.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday that “Israel has committed to re-opening Kerem Shalom, we’ve been told that that’s going to happen tomorrow.” 

“Fuel deliveries through Rafah should also commence tomorrow, that’s what we’ve been told,” Jean-Pierre added.

But only one fuel truck from UNRWA entered the Gaza Strip via the Karam Abu Salem facility, according to the Palestinian News and Information Agency (Wafa), before being closed again later.

Edwan confirmed to Mada Masr that the area around the crossing was too dangerous for trucks to approach. “UNRWA was supposed to go to the Karam Abu Salem border on Wednesday to resume sending trucks into Gaza, but they didn’t because the area is still dangerous and was still being targeted and bombed on Wednesday,” he said.

UNRWA Deputy Director of Operations in Gaza Scott Anderson said on Wednesday afternoon that no aid had come into the strip throughout the day.

“We’re not receiving any aid into the #GazaStrip, the #Rafah crossing area has ongoing military operations — there have been continued bombardments in this area throughout the day,” Anderson tweeted. “No fuel or aid has entered into #GazaStrip and this is disastrous for the humanitarian response.”

With the two southern crossings closed, the only remaining route into Gaza is via the Israeli-controlled Beit Hanoun (Erez) Crossing in the north. Israeli settlers attacked a humanitarian aid convoy on its way to the Beit Hanoun crossing in northern Gaza and "tampered with its contents" in the second such incident in less than a week, Jordan said on Wednesday, though the convoy was able to continue its journey.

Commenting on the closure of the crossings on Tuesday, UN chief António Guterres said that “the closure of both the Rafah and [Karam Abu Salem] crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be re-opened immediately. Just to give an example, we risk running out of fuel this evening.”

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza also noted on Tuesday that trucks with medical equipment, drugs and fuel were unable to enter the strip, worsening an already dire health situation. 78,404 people have been injured in the strip since October 7 and 34,844 have been killed, said the Health Ministry on Wednesday, with 55 martyrs and 200 injured people arriving at hospitals in the strip in the last 24 hours (as of the time of the ministry’s Wednesday report).

The effects of the Occupation’s aid obstruction from all crossings were already showing after the Rafah crossing was taken on Tuesday, with prices increasing and basic commodities already running low, two people currently living in Palestinian Rafah said.

“Currently, we can’t find any type of meat in the markets. And prices have tripled in a matter of minutes. Everything became so expensive and scarce. I’m just afraid that we’re heading toward a famine — a famine in the whole Gaza Strip, not just in Rafah,” said Jenin, who was displaced from eastern Rafah on Monday and is now staying with relatives in central Rafah. Hatem, who is displaced in western Rafah, also said that prices have spiked since Monday.