CAIRO, January 10. /TASS/. More than 5,500 trucks carrying humanitarian aid for residents of the Gaza Strip have thus far been received in the enclave by staff of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, a spokesman for the society said.
"Since the beginning of the humanitarian aid transfer procedure on October 21, 2023, 5,625 trucks carrying food, drinking water, medicine and other necessary items were received in the Strip through the Rafah border crossing," said a Palestinian Red Crescent spokesperson, as quoted by Al-Qahera Al-Ekhbariya. He added that 88 equipped ambulances were sent to the Strip from Egypt and divided among medical facilities according to a protocol established by the Health Ministry over the same timeframe.
According to him, about 3,800 out of the aforementioned number of vehicles with humanitarian support were received by the branches of the Palestinian Red Crescent, slightly more than 1,700 vehicles were transferred to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
He added that the direct distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza is handled by staff of the Palestinian Ministry of Social Development.
Medicine and medical supplies are distributed based on a different system: most of the medicine delivered to Gaza - about 60% - is given to the enclave's Health Ministry, just over 20% directly to local public hospitals and private clinics, and the rest is distributed by UNRWA.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.