Source: No aid to enter Gaza today

Conditions and “some restrictions” still constrain the delivery of aid to Gaza, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday, speaking from the Rafah border crossing, which connects Egypt and the Gaza Strip, and demanding that the conditions be minimized to allow as much aid as possible in “as quickly as possible.” 

But “as quickly as possible” will not be Friday, according to a source working in the North Sinai branch of the Red Crescent who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity on Friday afternoon, adding that the Red Crescent’s team had already left the Rafah Crossing and returned to Arish.

Restrictions on the deliveries also mean that the quantity of aid due to be delivered will not be sufficient, said other sources, noting the dire need in Gaza where 2.2 million residents have been cut off from all water, food, fuel and medicine for around 10 days.

Trucks of food and medical aid are still waiting in North Sinai almost two weeks into the war, with a humanitarian crisis quickly escalating in the besieged strip, which has been subject to continuous airstrikes killing at least 4,137 Palestinians so far and injuring 13,162, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Speaking in a Friday press conference, Gaza health officials said that the conditions have also put seven hospitals in the strip out of service. 

The Gaza Strip urgently needs drinking water, fuel to operate desalination plants, basic foodstuffs, and medicines for the sick and injured, including insulin and antibiotics for adults and children, basic pain relievers such as paracetamol, and creams against lice, which have spread due to overcrowding, Tamara Alrifai, a spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), told Mada Masr.

Aid deliveries have been delayed a number of times already. Israel initially refused to allow the shipments in, later agreeing only on the basis of a set of conditions, even as the Palestinian Red Crescent said that it had completely run out of its stocks of aid.

Unnamed diplomats speaking to the New York Times were cited on Friday as saying that Egypt and Israel remain at odds over the details of getting humanitarian relief through the Rafah crossing, with still unresolved questions regarding whether to allow in fuel and how to screen convoys for arms. 

Israel has demanded that a mechanism be put in place to check that aid deliveries do not contain weapons that will be delivered to Hamas, according to diplomatic sources who spoke to Mada Masr over the past week. Egypt, meanwhile, is attempting to apply pressure for a bare minimum of fuel to be delivered to hospitals and bakeries, while Israel continues to rule out fuel deliveries. 

United States President Joe Biden said after a phone call with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday that an agreement was reached for 20 aid trucks to be delivered, anticipating that they would cross into Gaza on Friday. He said workers would begin repairing “potholes” at the crossing, which has been hit by four Israeli airstrikes since the war broke out on October 7.

Guterres came to Cairo on Thursday, arriving at Arish Airport in North Sinai early on Friday morning to speak to the press from the Rafah crossing. Two journalists at the crossing speaking to Mada Masr said that Second Field Army Commander Major General Mohamed Rabie visited the crossing on Thursday, asking TV crews to set up a podium for the presser after which trucks were due to cross into Gaza.

Cranes began on Thursday night to remove the concrete barriers erected last week in front of its side of the Rafah border crossing.

But so far, no governments or international agencies have confirmed when the aid will be delivered, with multiple sources telling CNN on Thursday that the Rafah Crossing “is no longer expected to open Friday for a first convoy of aid.”

Israel has placed conditions on the delivery of aid, refusing to allow shipments of fuel or the entry of any supplies from Israel into Gaza until prisoners taken in the October 7 operation by the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, are handed over.

Fuel is among the most urgently needed supplies at present, said Alrifai, as well as access to clean drinking water and medicine to mitigate extreme shortages.

Israel’s bombardment campaign in Gaza continued on Thursday night, targeting the oldest church in Gaza City, the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, where hundreds were sheltering. The government media office said that 16 Palestinians were killed in the airstrike. 

As humanitarian conditions inside Gaza escalate, Palestinians outside the strip have also faced violence from Israeli security forces. Israeli troops and settlers have so far killed 81 Palestinians in the West Bank since Hamas’ October 7 operation, which saw the group breach the blockade and enter Israel-held territory. In Tulkarem, 13 Palestinians were killed in a raid by Israeli forces in Nur Shams refugee camp on Thursday. Over 750 Palestinians have also been detained in the West Bank since October 7, according to Palestinian media.

Following Biden’s visit to Israel on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived in Israel on Thursday in a show of support from the UK, stressing Israel’s “right to defend itself” from what he described as “Hamas’ horrific act of terror” in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Sunak arrived in Cairo Friday to meet with President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and discuss a de-escalation of the conflict.