Blinken hails Egyptian pioneering role in delivering aid to Gaza

CAIRO – 17 November 2023: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has praised Egypt’s pioneering role in delivering aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip, the Department of State said on Friday in a post on X.

Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza early in October, Egypt has delivered more than 1,130 humanitarian aid trucks coming from world countries as well as local and international organizations.

On 11 November, the Egyptian Red Crescent’s data revealed that Egypt sent 6,944 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza until 10 November, while total aid delivered from other countries to Gaza totaled 2,318 tons, equal to one third of the Egyptian aid to the strip.

Moreover, Egypt’s donation-based Tahya Misr Fund will launch a massive convoy comprising around 195 trucks for the Gaza strip on Saturday.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli and several state officials, ministers, public figures and civil society personnel will attend the launch.

The trucks in the convoy are loaded with medical supplies and equipment as well as huge quantities of food, water, milk, juice, clothes, blankets, carpets, covers, children’s diapers, disinfectants, power generators, diapers for the elderly, torches, and sanitary pads.

Meanwhile, around 150 liters of diesel have entered through the Rafah border crossing for hospitals in Gaza amid Egyptian efforts to resume the flow of fuel to the war-battered strip, Al Qahera News reported on Friday.

On Wednesday, the Gaza Strip received its first truck loaded with fuel since the start of the Israeli war to deliver diesel to the United Nations as Israel approved the entry of 24,000 liters for UN aid distribution trucks but not for hospitals.

Egypt has been pushing through diplomatic means for allowing the entry of fuel to Gaza, which is essential for the operation of hospitals, bakeries and water plants.

Gaza’s hospitals have gone out of service due to the lack of fuel as well as the Israeli strikes, hindering the medical facilities’ hopes to save the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians injured in the Israeli war.

Besides aid, Egypt has evacuated hundreds of dual nationals and foreigners and received dozens of injured Palestinians and cancer patients from Gaza for treatment.

Also, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi instructed medical establishments on Thursday to prepare for receiving Palestinian newborns from Gaza Strip to join dozens of the critically injured, mainly children, who are lying in Egyptian hospitals.