The president of the United States, Joe Biden, said this Wednesday that his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al Sisi, agreed to open the border crossing that connects his country with the Gaza Strip for entry 20 trucks with humanitarian aid.
The US president made this announcement during a conversation with the press aboard Air Force One during a stop in Germany, on his return trip to Washington from Israel, which he visited on Wednesday.
Biden stated that if the Islamist group Hamas intercepts the aid, it will be cut off; But, if the trucks reach the civilian population as planned, then Egypt will allow more to enter.
Roads in Gaza need repairs
Later, in statements to the press on board the plane, John Kirby, one of the White House spokespersons, clarified that the trucks will enter Gaza in the coming days because the roads need repairs.
Currently, as an NGO informed EFE, hundreds of trucks from Egyptian non-governmental organizations are still waiting for the Rafah crossing to open, which, on the Palestinian side, is destroyed by bombings from Israel in recent days.
Biden announced this Wednesday during his visit to Israel that the war cabinet formed by that country’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had accepted that humanitarian aid would enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, which connects the enclave with the Egyptian Sinai and the only one in the enclave that Israel does not control.
“Very cooperative”
“The truth is that Al Sisi deserves a lot of recognition,” Biden declared in relation to the opening of Rafah, highlighting that both the Egyptian president and Netanyahu were “very cooperative” and took “a step forward.”
Furthermore, he explained that the argument he used to reach an agreement on the entry of humanitarian aid was: “If you have the opportunity to alleviate suffering, you should do it.”
Biden met with Netanyahu
On his visit to Israel, Biden met with c; with the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and with the war cabinet, to whom he reiterated at all times the unwavering support of the United States for Israel. “They are not alone” or “they have our full support” were phrases that were heard in all of the American’s public interventions.
According to a statement from the White House, Biden also spoke by phone this Wednesday with Al Sisi, with whom he discussed the possibility of establishing “mechanisms” to ensure that aid is distributed only to the civilian population in Gaza.
By Nadeem Faisal Baiga
