Egypt says Israel creating bureaucratic hurdles to delay aid into Gaza

ISTANBUL

Egypt said on Saturday that it is sparing no efforts to expedite the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli bombardments for 22 days, but Tel Aviv’s logistic measures “impede its entry.”

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said this in response to inquiries from international media about the reasons behind the delay in the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Abu Zeid stressed: “All parties must realize beyond any doubt that Egypt has not and will not spare any effort to ensure the rapid entry of humanitarian and relief aid to our Palestinian brothers in Gaza,” according to a statement of the ministry published on Facebook.

He said that Israeli obstacles are delaying the entry of aid into Gaza, adding that Israel wanted the vehicles carrying aid to be searched at the Nitzana (Al-Auja) crossing on the Egyptian border before reaching the Rafah crossing and then finally entering the Gaza Strip.

Despite the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the accumulation of aid convoys on the Egyptian side, the number of trucks that arrived in Gaza through the Rafah crossing is still small and does not meet its needs. Only 84 trucks have been able to reach Gaza since the beginning of the war on Oct. 7.

UN officials stated earlier that the Gaza Strip used to receive around 500 trucks per day to fulfill the needs of its 2.3 million population.