CAIRO, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Egypt on Tuesday dispatched a 200-truck humanitarian aid convoy carrying 2,700 tons of relief supplies from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing toward the Kerem Shalom crossing, Egypt's state TV reported.
The aid, including food supplies provided by the World Food Programme, along with fuel, medicines, and other medical supplies, will await inspection by Israeli authorities before being delivered into the Gaza Strip, according to the report.
It was the 23rd convoy sent under an initiative, started on July 27 and run by the Egyptian Red Crescent.
The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has confirmed famine in parts of Gaza, highlighting extreme hunger and critical shortages of necessities, including food, medicine, and fuel.
Egypt has provided more than 70 percent of the total aid delivered to Gaza since the Hamas-Israel conflict began in October 2023, with over 550,000 tons of relief supplies transported by thousands of trucks, while about 5,000 trucks remain waiting on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry last week.
Over the past 22 months, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 62,819 Palestinians and injured 158,629 others, while causing massive destruction to infrastructure and worsening humanitarian conditions, Gaza's health authorities said in an update on Tuesday.
In the past 24 hours alone, Gaza hospitals received 75 bodies and 370 wounded people. "Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads, with emergency and civil defense crews unable to reach them," the health authorities added.
Famine and malnutrition in Gaza have claimed 303 lives, including 117 children, since the conflict erupted. ■