Trucks wait to carry aid supplies near the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, on May 26, 2024. At least 200 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid supplies will enter the Gaza Strip on Sunday via the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, Egyptian media and Palestinian security sources said. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
GAZA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM, May 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 200 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid supplies will enter the Gaza Strip on Sunday via the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, Egyptian media and Palestinian security sources said.
Egypt's state-run Nile TV reported that so far 90 trucks have already crossed the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza after being inspected by the Israeli side, with the rest of the trucks awaiting permission to enter through the crossing.
Each truck carried 20 tons of food supplies, while four of them carried fuel needed to operate generators in Gaza's hospitals, Palestinian sources said.
It is the first batch of aid entering Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli military operation in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, and the subsequent Israeli control over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on May 7. Egypt has refused to coordinate aid entry through the Rafah crossing as long as Israel maintains control of its Palestinian side.
On Friday, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden agreed during phone talks to deliver quantities of humanitarian aid and fuel to the United Nations at the Kerem Shalom crossing temporarily "until a legal mechanism is reached to reoperate the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side," according to the Egyptian presidency.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Sunday that the weekly number of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings on the Israel-Gaza border has almost doubled from the week before.
According to the Israeli army, the land aid provided in the past week reached 2,065 humanitarian aid trucks, providing food, water, fuel, medical equipment, and shelter materials for Gazan civilians.
Among them were 232 trucks from the UN World Food Program carrying flour for the bakeries in Gaza, 132 aid trucks from Jordan, and 352,000 liters of diesel and gasoline to supply essential facilities, including hospitals and shelters run by the international community in Gaza.
In addition, 1,806 pallets of food via the new U.S.-installed floating pier in Gaza were transferred in 127 trucks to logistics centers of international aid agencies in the Strip.
The temporary floating pier for humanitarian aid was inaugurated on May 17 and is operated by Israel's Navy and the Ministry of Defense, in cooperation with the United States.
On Saturday, a U.S. raft delivering aid to the Gaza floating pier drifted northward and reached the Israeli coastal city of Ashdod, according to reports by Israel's state-owned Kan TV news and other Israeli media.
Kan added that the raft detached from a vessel due to high waves and winds, while attempts to rejoin at sea were unsuccessful. ■
A truck waits to carry aid supplies near the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, on May 26, 2024. At least 200 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid supplies will enter the Gaza Strip on Sunday via the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, Egyptian media and Palestinian security sources said. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
A truck waits to carry aid supplies near the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, on May 26, 2024. At least 200 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid supplies will enter the Gaza Strip on Sunday via the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, Egyptian media and Palestinian security sources said. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
Trucks wait to carry aid supplies near the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, on May 26, 2024. At least 200 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid supplies will enter the Gaza Strip on Sunday via the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, Egyptian media and Palestinian security sources said. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
