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Middle East conflict

Rafah crossing to open for both aid supplies and evacuation on Friday — ambassador

Alexander Ben Zvi said that Israel "is ready for an operation to let humanitarian aid and people pass through"

MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. Israel could announce that the Rafah crossing will be open for both evacuation and humanitarian aid on Friday, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi told TASS.

"Our answer is today. Today there are conditions, there are some agreements. According to our information, the Rafah checkpoint will work today," the diplomat said.

He said the crossing will be open both for people and for humanitarian aid. Israel will be ready to ensure the security of the crossing if "it is used for humanitarian purposes."

"If a problem arises, for example Hamas puts rocket launchers near the Rafah crossing and opens fire from there, there will be no guarantees for that crossing," Ben Zvi continued. "We will have to react in some way."

But he assured that, if nothing like that happens, Israel "is ready for an operation to let humanitarian aid and people pass through."

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in the Egyptian town of El-Arish in the north of the Sinai Peninsula earlier on Friday, Al-Qahira ai-Ihbariya television reported.

"Guterres has arrived in El-Arish, from where he will head to the Rafah checkpoint on the border with the Gaza Strip," the report said.

The UN secretary general plans to watch the passage of the first trucks that will deliver humanitarian aid to the residents of the Palestinian enclave through the Rafah land crossing.

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