Aid enters Gaza under new deal as Israel continue strikes

Aid trucks entered Gaza from southern Israel yesterday through a new agreement to bypass the Rafah crossing with Egypt after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of it earlier this month amid heavy shelling in the southern region.

But was unclear if humanitarian groups would be able to access the aid because of ongoing fighting in the area.

About 200 aid trucks, including four fuel trucks, were expected to enter Gaza from Egypt via Israel's Kerem Shalom Crossing, said Khaled Zayed, the head of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society in North Sina.

Egypt refused to reopen its side of the Rafah crossing until control of the Gaza side is handed back to Palestinians. It agreed to temporarily divert traffic through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, Gaza's main cargo terminal, after a call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

Aid has been piling up in Egypt since Israel launched an operation to take over the Gazan side of the Rafah Crossing with Egypt on May 7. Some food supplies bound for Gaza have begun to rot with the Rafah crossing closed. The holdup led to recriminations between Israel and Egypt, straining ties between the countries, which made peace in 1979.

A few dozen trucks have also been entering Gaza daily through a U.S.-built floating pier, but its capacity remains far below the 150 trucks a day that officials had hoped for.  Stormy weather sent a strip of docking and a small U.S. military vessel ashore near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on May 25. The U.S. Central Command said four of its vessels were affected by rough seas with two of them anchoring near the pier off the Gaza coast and another two in Israel.

Meanwhile, international outrage continues to reverberate as...