Trucks carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip began crossing the Rafah crossing today, which connects Egypt with the Palestinian enclave, according to security sources and officials of the Egyptian Red Crescent.

Egyptian state television showed images of several trucks crossing the border crossing while a Palestinian border official said the trucks had already reached the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing.

Twenty trucks of the Egyptian Red Crescent, which has taken over the delivery of aid from various UN agencies, entered the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.

On the Palestinian side, an AFP reporter saw 36 empty semi-trailers enter the crossing bound for Egypt, ready to load aid.

Four ambulances, two UN vehicles and two Red Cross vehicles were visible on the Palestinian side.

“The humanitarian aid convoy due to enter (the Gaza Strip) today includes 20 trucks carrying medicine, medical equipment and a limited amount of food stocks (canned food),” a statement from the Hamas press office said. However, the Palestinian jihadist organization estimated that this aid “will not change the disastrous medical conditions in Gaza”.

In the 15th day of the war between Israel and Hamas and after Israel imposed a total siege on Gaza that left the enclave’s 2.4 million residents – half of them children and teenagers – without water, electricity and fuel.

Israel has emphasized that it will ensure that this aid does not reach Hamas, but only to “civilians” and indeed “in the southern part of the Gaza Strip”, as it has requested the evacuation of the northern part.

The stranded foreign nationals are waiting

Earlier, the US embassy in Jerusalem had announced that the Rafah crossing would be opened to allow foreign nationals stranded on the Palestinian side of the enclave and Palestinians with dual citizenship to leave at 10am.

“We do not know how long it will remain open for the removal of foreign citizens from Gaza,” the announcement states.

According to the Times of Israel, the embassy warns of a “potentially chaotic and disorderly environment on both sides of the crossing” and urges foreign nationals to assess the situation before moving to the border or attempting to cross.