Under conditions that the United Nations has already labeled a “humanitarian catastrophe,” hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled south in preparation for a potential major Israeli assault on the northern part of Gaza. As the hospitals, homes, schools, and streets of the south fill up with the displaced and injured, time is running out to get lifesaving aid in — or to help people, including hundreds of US citizens, leave.
Planes full of medical equipment from the Red Cross and the World Health Organization are at the al-Arish airport in Egypt’s Sinai, some 28 miles away from the Rafah border crossing on Gaza’s southern border, Reuters reported Saturday. Though the aid is critical for the thousands of Gazans injured by ongoing Israeli Air Force strikes since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, the border crossing remains closed while Egyptian, Qatari, US, UN, and Israeli officials attempt to negotiate an opening.
US citizens in Gaza were told Saturday to move closer to the Rafah border crossing, only for them to be unable to evacuate as southern Gaza becomes more and more crowded — and runs low on basic supplies like food, fuel, and medicine.
The status of the border crossing has been somewhat muddled; Egypt says its side remains open but that Israeli Air Force bombardments on the Gaza side of the crossing have stopped the flow of traffic and kept the border crossing closed. But Egyptian security officials also told Reuters they are holding up the planned evacuation of some Gazans, including foreign citizens, as they await a deal to allow aid into Gaza.
“Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die,” the WHO said in a statement Saturday.
As aid negotiations continue, the question of what happens next for Gazans as Israel launches its “next stage” of the war remains: Will powers with competing relationships and…
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