Palestinian factions called on Egypt to open the Rafah land crossing to transport the wounded and bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip to save it from "humanitarian catastrophe and genocidal war."
Following the battle of the Al-Aqsa flood and the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the Israeli occupation has cut off electricity, water, medicine and fuel to the besieged Gaza Strip since the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) won the legislative elections in 2006 and took control of the Strip in 2007.
"We call on our brothers in the Arab Republic of Egypt to immediately open the Rafah crossing to transfer the wounded, bring in humanitarian aid and save the Gaza Strip from the humanitarian catastrophe and the war of genocide," the factions said in a joint statement.
Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, criticized Arab countries that could not bring aid trucks through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing.
The Rafah crossing is the only crossing that is not controlled by the Israeli occupation in theory, according to Anadolu Agency, which hinted that it is subject to the dictates of the Israeli occupation, as the Palestinian side of it was bombed several times, and the process of entering aid is subject to coordination between Egypt and Israel.
Egypt sought to clear itself of the charge of obstructing the entry of aid into Gaza and accused the Israeli occupation of responsibility for this, as the spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated that Israeli procedures in searching trucks impede the immediate delivery of aid from Egypt to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Israel requires "inspection of trucks at the Israeli Nitsana crossing opposite the Egyptian Al-Awja crossing," and then the truck heads to the Rafah crossing for a 100-kilometer journey before entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday that before the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, about 500 trucks crossed into Gaza a day, but in the past few days only 12 trucks entered on average.