to report «iusnews»; World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday morning that "more delays will result in more suffering and more deaths” in Gaza, amid questions over when the crossing between Gaza and Egypt will open to humanitarian aid trucks.
Ghebreyesus said in a social media post that the WHO “continue[s] to ask for access to deliver lifesaving supplies”.
A CNN team on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing earlier saw trucks arriving from several aid groups loaded with desperately needed supplies. Road repair vehicles from Egypt were also spotted amid ongoing work to repair both sides of the crossing.
The crossing is not expected to open Friday for a vital convoy of humanitarian aid to get to Gaza, multiple sources have told CNN, despite expectations voiced by US President Joe Biden and others that it would be open.
US officials now expect that the first convoy will cross the border this weekend, possibly by Saturday. However, a US official cautioned that the situation remained fluid as preparations continued to allow the humanitarian aid through.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said, the UN is dealing with "restrictions" imposed on aid deliveries to Gaza.
Speaking from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Friday, Guterres said aid trucks need to move in as soon as possible.
“We are actively engaging with all the parties in order to clarify these restrictions so we can have these trucks moving towards where they’re needed. We need these trucks moving as soon as possible,” Guterres said.
“We have two million people here who are suffering tremendously. There is no water, no food, no medicine, no fuel. Gaza needs everything to survive,” he a dded.
Several countries and aid organisations have been sending cargo planes and trucks to the crossing for days but none has been allowed to enter so far. Israel bombed the crossing at least four times since 7 October, on both the Egyptian and the Palestinian side.
On October 7, Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched the largest military operation against the occupying entity in decades, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.
The resistance movement said that its operation came in response to Israel’s violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Al-Quds and growing settler violence.
Israel responded with intensive airstrikes on civilian targets in the Gaza Strip. The regime has also intensified the siege of Gaza, leaving the city, home to more than 2.3 million Palestinians, without water, electricity, fuel and internet.
According to the Ministry of Health, 4,137 people have been killed so far in Israeli attacks on Gaza including 1,661 children. There are 13,260 people wounded.
