The Rafah border crossing from Gaza to Egypt was opened last Saturday to allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza for the first time since the October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, however, Egypt continues to keep the border closed to foreign nationals stranded in Gaza, CBS News reported.
Twenty trucks carrying supplies to Palestinian civilians were allowed to pass into Gaza last Saturday while over 200 trucks carrying 3,000 tons of humanitarian aid awaited nearby. The aid includes food, water, medical supplies, and fuel.
The aid began flowing after over a week of diplomatic meetings between US and UN officials and Israel and Egypt, including visits from President Joe Biden and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The trucks passing through on Saturday were carrying 44,000 bottles of water, an amount UNICEF said would provide only a day’s worth of water for 22,000 Palestinians.
UNICEF Director Catherine Russell said the need in Gaza is “immediate and immense.”
According to the World Health Organization, four of the trucks were loaded with medical supplies.
While aid was being allowed into Gaza, no foreign nationals, including US citizens, currently stranded in Gaza since October 7 are being permitted to cross into Egypt.
Leila Bsiso, one of the hundreds of US citizens who have been stranded at the Rafah border with Egypt for weeks, told CBS News that she and her family feel that President Biden has abandoned them.
Bsiso told CBS News that it was a problem that the world’s strongest country would leave its citizens in Gaza without helping them leave. She suggested that the United States should be doing everything possible to help Americans get out.
The president said in a statement that the US is committed to ensuring that Palestinian civilians in Gaza continue to receive water, food, medical supplies, and additional assistance “without diversion by Hamas.”
Biden said that the US would continue working to get the Rafah border crossing open so American citizens could leave Gaza.
