UN chief arrives in Egypt’s Rafah to reaffirm call for ceasefire in Gaza

CAIRO – 23 March 2024: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has just arrived in Egypt’s El Arish International Airport to visit the Rafah border crossing, where he will renew his call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

On October 20, 2023, nearly two weeks after Israel launched its war on the Gaza Strip, the UN Chief emphasized the urgent necessity for life-saving aid to promptly reach Gaza.

"They are the difference between life and death for so many people,” he said, referring to the humanitarian aid trucks waiting near the border in Egypt.

“Behind these walls, we have two million people that is suffering enormously - that has no water, no food, no medicine, no fuel, that is under fire, that needs everything to survive,” he said in his speech at the border crossing on October 20, 2023.

On Friday, El Arish International Airport received two aid aircraft dispatched to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s state-owned news agency MENa reported.

 The first aircraft arrived from the UAE, carrying 20 tons of food, relief items, and medical aid, MENA reported a source at El Arish airport. The second aircraft, originating from Russia, delivered 29 tons of relief and food supplies, the same source confirmed.

The Egyptian Red Crescent announced on March 19, 2024, the arrival of 72 trucks carrying humanitarian aid and fuel to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Border Crossing. Despite the significant need, only a small number of aid trucks were able to enter the strip, where nearly two million people require at least 500 aid trucks daily.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and imposed a complete blockade on it amid its ongoing bombings against the Strip, where so far over 32,000 people, mostly children and women, have been killed. Additionally, more than 700,000 Palestinians are suffering from acute starvation and malnutrition caused by the Israeli besiege despite the little humanitarian aid that has hardly been delivered to the strip.