Egypt's state-affiliated news outlet Al-Qahera reported on Saturday the country has refused to coordinate the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing with Israel. The channel cited a senior Egyptian official saying the IDF’s operation in Rafah was “an unacceptable Israeli escalation,” adding Egypt places blame on Israel for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Strip.
The report echoes another one by The New York Times published over the weekend, according to which part of the aid delivery is being delayed by Egypt against the backdrop of tensions with Israel surrounding the operation in Rafah, and the Egyptian concern it will cause a flood of Palestinian refugees heading to northern Sinai.
A senior official at the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) warned that vital supplies like food and medicine are getting low in the Strip and added the recent developments in the war threaten to exacerbate the humanitarian crisis further. "I have never been involved in such a destructive, complex, and unstable situation," he said.
According to the IDF, 300,000 Palestinians have left Rafah since the evacuation of the population from the city began last week, with the beginning of the military’s operations in the Rafah crossing and the city’s eastern outskirts (which housed 1.3 million residents and displaced Gazans at the start of the war). According to UNRWA only 110,000 people have left.
Meanwhile, Palestinian media outlets report heavy fighting as IDF forces moved into Jabalia.