Planes carrying humanitarian aid arrived in the Sinai Peninsula today, where the supplies will be kept until they can be safely transported to Gaza, a Red Crescent official and a volunteer said.

Egypt says the Rafah crossing, for its part, remains open but traffic has been halted for several days due to Israeli shelling on the Palestinian enclave side. The Egyptian security forces are strengthening the security of the crossing, among other things they are moving the concrete barriers and the information that they are closing it is untruean Egyptian intelligence source said.

Two flights, one of which was from Turkey, arrived earlier at the airport in the Sinai city of Al Ares, which is 45 kilometers from the border with the Gaza Strip. In total this week at least five planes carrying humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza have arrived in Sinai.

The World Health Organization also announced that an aircraft carrying medicines and other medical supplies had landed in Al Ares. “Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women and men, especially the most vulnerable, will die,” warned WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. These materials can meet the needs of 300,000 people and include medicines for 1,200 injured and 1,500 heart patients, hypertensives, diabetics, the Organization clarified.

In Egypt there is concern about the possibility of displacing Gazans due to the siege of the enclave and Israeli bombardment. Like other Arab countries, Egypt says Palestinians should remain on their land and is working to ensure aid is delivered inside the Gaza Strip.