52 aid trucks enter Gaza via Karm Abu Salem Crossing: Egypt media

A total of 52 humanitarian aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip through the Israeli Karm Abu Salem Crossing, Egyptian media reported Friday, Anadolu Agency reports.

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 24 May, 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 Karm Abu Salem Crossing temporarily, “until a legal mechanism could be established to re-open the Rafah Crossing from the Palestinian side,” according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.

The first aid trucks entered Gaza through the Karm Abu Salem Crossing and were received by the UN on 30 May, the channel reported.

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

OPINION: 8 months of death and destruction in Gaza

On 2 June, Cairo hosted a security meeting attended by Egyptian, American and Israeli officials to discuss re-opening 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 7 October, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.

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 (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has 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 6 May.

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