CAIRO, October 16. /TASS/. Israel continues to strike targets in areas adjacent to the Rafah border checkpoint between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt Diab Al-Louh told the Al Hadath TV channel.

"Israel promised Blinken they would open the Rafah crossing but reneged on this decision," the diplomat said. He said Israel was "still shelling targets near the border crossing" and "preventing critically wounded people from leaving for treatment in Egypt." "Egypt and other Arab countries continue to work to reopen the crossing," the diplomat went on to say. "Together with Cairo we are making efforts to achieve a ceasefire," Al-Louh said.

The Palestinian ambassador confirmed that the Gaza Strip still has neither water nor power.

Earlier, the Al Arabiya TV channel claimed that a temporary ceasefire was to come into effect in the southern parts of the Gaza Strip starting at 9:00 a.m. local time (the same as Moscow Time) in order to ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave, as well as evacuate civilians.

Egyptian security sources confirmed to Reuters that the Rafah checkpoint on Egypt's border with Gaza would be open for the five-hour humanitarian lull. More than a hundred trucks are waiting to leave El-Arish to deliver humanitarian aid via the border crossing to the Palestinian enclave. At the same time, both the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and the Palestinian Hamas movement denied reports about the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the opening of the crossing.

On October 15, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said following talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi that Rafah would open shortly.