Israel-Gaza war live: Aid begins crossing into Gaza from Egypt’s Rafah
- Red Crescent trucks containing humanitarian aid have begun entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah crossing. Aid groups have repeatedly described the initial delivery as “a drop in the ocean”.
- US embassy in Jerusalem says it has received information that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will open at 10am local time (07:00am GMT).
- 5m ago(08:01 GMT)
‘We went through hell’: Palestinian dual citizens hoping to leave Gaza
At least 500 to 600 Palestinian Americans await evacuation from the Gaza Strip on the 14th day of Israel’s assault.
US officials have said they had received information that once the Rafah crossing opens, dual citizens could be allowed to leave — as first aid trucks from Egypt begin entering Gaza.
But it’s already too late for nineteen-year-old Yousif Abu Shaaban and his family: The delay in evacuations cost his 14-year-old sister’s life.
“This is the fault of the negligence from the embassy and all the sides that are supposed to be responsible for me. I demand an international inquiry into why this happened to me, to my house – why my sister was martyred,” said Abu Shaaban. “I’m going to take them to court.”
Egyptian members of security personnel stand guard at a checkpoint amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, near Rafah, Egypt [File: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters] - 9m ago(07:57 GMT)
Photos: Trucks carrying aid at Rafah
[Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] 
[Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] 
[Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] - 10m ago(07:56 GMT)
Hamas’s media office says the expected truckloads of aid “will not change the catastrophic medical conditions in Gaza”.
- 16m ago(07:50 GMT)
Palestinians in West Bank say opening of Rafah crossing a ‘PR stunt’
People here in Ramallah say the opening of the Rafah crossing was just a PR stunt from the international community to show that it cares about Gaza.
Many told me that they are very much aware that this first convoy is nowhere near the needs of Gaza. If the international community really cared, then there would be serious talks about getting children who have been wounded out to get the proper treatment.
After Palestinians in Gaza have been vilified, they say the response must be a sustained humanitarian effort.
Displaced in Gaza: Not enough tents for tens of thousands families - 23m ago(07:44 GMT)
Humanitarian aid trucks ‘just a drop in the ocean of what’s required’
Mark Owen Jones, assistant professor of Middle East studies at Doha’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, says the reported 20 aid trucks entering Gaza is “an absolutely insignificant number”.
“About 100,000 tonnes of aid is about enough to sustain half a million people for a week. When you consider there’s two million people [in Gaza] and only a portion of that aid is going through, what’s that going to do?,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The aid that is going in, is also in addition to the fact that the existing stocks and supplies in Gaza have already been depleted. Really, it’s a drop in the ocean of what’s required … it’s important to have humanitarian aid, but seeing this as a victory for Gaza is problematic.
“All it’s going to do is sustain a certain level of relief from suffering and it’s not going to mitigate the suffering at all especially when there’s prospect of an Israeli ground invasion hanging over, there’s no ceasefire.”
- 27m ago(07:39 GMT)
What will initial aid convoy do for Gaza?
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza has just opened and aid trucks have begun rolling in.
But humanitarian workers have been warning that for the besieged Gaza Strip, which has been relentlessly bombed by Israel for two weeks, the initial 20-truck delivery cannot cover the immense needs for the enclave’s 2.3 million people.
The humanitarian situation in the densely populated territory is dire and aid agencies have been warning of a “catastrophic” shortage of medical supplies in the besieged enclave.
Food and drinking water is also scare according to the UN, while sanitation facilities, water wells, reservoirs, and pumping stations have suffered damage due to the incessant air strikes.
Read more about Gaza’s humanitarian crisis in our comprehensive explainer here.
- 47m ago(07:20 GMT)
’20 aid trucks carrying medical supplies and food’: Hamas
“The relief aid convoy that is supposed to enter today includes 20 trucks that carry medicine, medical supplies, and a limited amount of food supplies [canned goods],” a statement from Hamas’s media office has said.
- 48m ago(07:19 GMT)
Sources say UN aid likely to enter Gaza on Monday
There has been a great deal of diplomacy around the opening of the Rafah border. We have seen UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visiting to Egypt’s crossing on Friday to appeal for aid trucks to move into the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian Red Crescent is operating this first convoy crossing now, there are UN convoys ready to go but sources tell me they are likely to have to wait until Monday.
Sources inside the Gaza health ministry say what might be on this first tranche of 20 trucks is mainly medical supplies and some limited food supplies. The two things that aren’t on that list are water and fuel. Clearly those are very critical for people in Gaza.
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