Egypt records another aid flight to Gaza

Egypt on October 14 recorded additional flights carrying aid to the Sinai Peninsula, where the aid is being held until its transport into the nearby Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing is secured.

Two aid flights, including one from Türkiye, arrived at Al Arish airport in North Sinai province, about 45km from the Gaza border, bringing the total number of humanitarian aid flights to Gaza to Al Arish airport this week to at least five.

Egyptian officials said the Rafah border crossing linking Sinai with Gaza remained open, although traffic had been halted for several days due to Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian side of the border.

A senior US State Department official said the US was working with Egypt, Israel and Qatar to open the Rafah crossing on October 14.

Washington has been in contact with Palestinian-Americans in Gaza, with some expressing a desire to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing, the official said, but it is unclear whether the Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip will allow access to the crossing.

An Egyptian security source said Egyptian security forces were increasing security on the Egyptian side of the border, and said reports that Egypt was blocking the Rafah crossing were incorrect. The Rafah crossing is the main exit point for the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade of the area, controlling the movement of goods and people since Hamas took control of the strip in 2007.

An Israeli military spokesman said on October 14 that the border crossing remains closed and any crossing into Egypt requires coordination with Israel.

On the same day, the European Commission (EC) announced that it would triple its current humanitarian aid to Gaza to 75 million euros ($78.8 million) and would coordinate with United Nations agencies to ensure aid reaches those in need.

The EC statement stressed that the executive arm of the European Union (EU) is working to ensure that innocent civilians in Gaza are supported in the current conflict.

Previously, on October 13, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) appealed for nearly 294 million USD to help about 1.3 million people in Gaza and the West Bank, of which nearly half is food aid, as supplies are gradually running out.

Meanwhile, the UN Under-Secretary-General for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said on the same day that the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which was already very serious, was now "becoming increasingly difficult to resolve."

Gaza currently has no electricity, water or fuel, while food supplies are running dangerously low, according to Mr Griffiths.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General called on all influential countries to make efforts to ensure respect for the rules of war and avoid further escalation.