Regional Director statement on visit to Al-Arish and Rafah, Egypt
22 March 2024, Cairo, Egypt – I recently visited Al-Arish Governorate and the Rafah border crossing point in Egypt, where I met with the Deputy Governor of North Sinai Major General El-Ghandoor, senior officials from the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) and Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and other health partners working on the health response to the Gaza crisis.
Since the escalation of hostilities in the occupied Palestinian territory, Egypt has been playing a key role in facilitating the delivery of aid into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing and providing free medical care and treatment for evacuated patients.
In Rafah, I saw aid trucks loaded and ready to cross the border into Gaza. I was told by ERC colleagues that 1500 of their trucks are ready to cross and an additional 1000 trucks are ready for inspection. However, they also described the long and complicated inspection process and ambiguous rejection criteria set by Israeli authorities that continues to impede the flow of aid into Gaza.
I visited the ERC warehouse set up specifically for humanitarian aid received from Egypt and 43 countries for the Gaza crisis response. These valuable donations that range from basic items like water purification vessels and disinfectants, to sophisticated medical equipment like neonatal incubators can help alleviate the suffering of Gazans from malnutrition, disease outbreaks and a significant of lack of clean water. Sadly, though, I was astonished to see large amounts of rejected items despite the dire need.
As Gaza’s health system faces severe shortages and patients lose