Gaza aid trucks return to Rafah crossing as Egypt seeks to ease humanitarian strain

Rafah back in focus as Cairo faces Israeli restrictions and domestic dynamics

After months of closure due to an Israeli military blockade, Egypt’s Rafah border crossing has been revived as a critical lifeline for Gaza-bound aid.

Thousands of lorries laden with aid have returned to North Sinai province, preparing to enter the besieged strip. The crossing has become a contentious issue for Egypt, unable to keep it open as Israel controls the other side.

Speaking to The National from the border point on Wednesday, the governor of North Sinai, Maj Gen Khaled Megawer, described criticism over the crossing as baseless and part of a “comprehensive smear campaign” by Muslim Brotherhood factions aiming to undermine the state.

The heads of Egypt’s largest aid providers to Gaza – including the Egyptian Red Crescent and the National Alliance for Development Work – gave speeches from Rafah to journalists transported by the government from Cairo.

In an impassioned address, Red Crescent chief Amal Imam revealed the organisation had delivered more than 500,000 tonnes of aid to Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023, carried by 36,000 lorries.

Maj Gen Khaled Megawer spoke at Rafah to reject criticism of Egypt over starvation in Gaza. Mohamed Fathi / The National

Dr Imam denounced what she called the injustice and brutality of Israel’s war on Gaza, and joined the many aid workers on the border who told The National their biggest hope was for a ceasefire and an end to Palestinians’ suffering.

The National Alliance, which is made up of more than a dozen charities that pool their resources, said it has delivered 70,000 tonnes of aid to Gaza since the start of the war. It has organised 11 convoys, the latest being mobilised on Wednesday.

Representing the alliance, former immigration minister Nabila Makram hailed Egypt's support of Palestine and said an awareness campaign had been launched to educate young Egyptians about their country's backing for the Palestinian people and their cause.

Responding to calls from Egyptians for any action to help mitigate the famine, Egypt began putting pressure on the Israeli side to allow the entry of aid last month. Deliveries had been halted for months and “Gaza was starving to death”, said Maj Gen Megawer.

The governor recounted a poor elderly woman bringing him a carton of food and asking him to send it to Gaza, a testament to how distressing Egyptians have found the famine caused by Israel's blockade.

The pressure was successful, he said, in that Israel made an informal agreement with Cairo in July “outside the framework of its dealings with Hamas” to allow the entry of aid.

The Egyptian Red Crescent says it has delivered large quantities of aid to Gaza. Mohamed Fathi / The National

Israel has also faced intense criticism from governments all over the world, including France, Germany, the UK and even some factions within the Trump administration, for starving Gazans and killing civilians on their way to receive aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

However, beyond humanitarian concerns, Maj Gen Megawer said Egypt was also protecting its strategic interests by cranking up pressure to resume aid and end the famine.

Chief among those goals is not allowing the displacement of Palestinians from their land into Egypt, as US President Donald Trump has suggested. Zionists have for decades called for the absorption of Palestinians by neighbouring countries.

“When Gazans starve, what are they going to do?" the governor said. "They are going to try to enter Israel or throw themselves into the sea or come to Egypt, which to us is a red line, so we had to get food inside and bear the economic losses that come with that."

That position was reiterated by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, who told a state news outlet that Egypt rejected the displacement of Palestinians and that their right to their land needed to be protected through a permanent and immediate ceasefire.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has accused Israel of turning the war "into a war of starvation, extermination and the liquidation of the Palestinian cause," arguing that "it is no longer a war to achieve political goals or release hostages". He said the war "has long surpassed any logic or justification," and that "the lives of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank are being used as a political bargaining chip".

However, reports from inside Gaza say that aid is not being delivered in sufficient amounts and that some is being looted by armed gangs or turned back at Israeli security checkpoints.

The Rafah crossing lies at Gaza's southern border with Egypt. Reuters

An Egyptian Red Crescent worker stationed at the border told The National that each day, the lorries are prepared and around 600 enter at 5.30am. The aid workers are then forced to wait until the end of the day to see how many of the lorries have actually made it in.

She explained that every day since aid deliveries resumed through Rafah in July, hundreds of lorries have been turned back daily.

“Yes, of course there is a great deal of obstruction from the Israeli side, this is a war after all, not a commercial exchange,” Maj Gen Megawer told The National. “And you are dealing with Hamas on one side and Israel on the other, two parties of the utmost difficulty. But we will continue to push for more food and for an end to the famine and the war.”

While journalists were being briefed on Wednesday afternoon, the governor’s speech was repeatedly interrupted by the loud honks from lorries exiting the access road to the right of the Rafah crossing, which they use to get to the Karem Abu Salem crossing where cargoes are inspected by Israel.

Since July, aid deliveries to Gaza have resumed but remain severely constrained. Between July 20 and August 3, more than 12,000 tonnes of food were brought into Gaza through the UN-run mechanism.

However, the UN says more than 90 per cent of these supplies were looted by armed groups or offloaded by starving crowds before reaching warehouses.