Spanish
Cairo.- Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, this Monday to "make every effort" to end the war in the Gaza Strip and to allow unrestricted access to humanitarian aid.
"I make a special appeal to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, since, according to my own assessment of his ability and position, he could end this war, allow the entry of aid and end this suffering", said Al Sisi in a televised speech.
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The Egyptian leader uttered these words on the second consecutive day of limited entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, which connects the Sinai Peninsula with the Palestinian enclave, after months of blockade by Israel and coinciding with the start of "tactical pauses".Faced with this situation and the obstacles to reaching a truce in Gaza, Al Sisi appealed to Trump: "Please, make every effort to end this war and to be able to deliver aid."
Since the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023, the participation of Egypt, Qatar, and the U.S. as mediators attempts to achieve a suspension of the conflict, allow humanitarian aid to enter, and release the hostages captured by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. In this regard, he recalled that the Gazan population needs a minimum of "between 600 and 700 trucks of aid" daily. From yesterday's convoy, only 73 trucks with humanitarian aid entered Gaza throughout Sunday, and most were attacked, the Hamas government in the enclave reported late in the day. "We have a huge volume of Egyptian aid trucks ready to enter the Gaza Strip and we cannot prevent them from entering. Our morals do not allow us to suspend it, but to deliver these trucks the other side of the crossings should be open," said Al Sisi, who defended that the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing has never been closed. The impediments to the entry of aid by Israel for months have drawn harsh criticism from the population and also from Hamas, who have accused the Egyptian government of not exerting more pressure to deliver aid to Gaza, although the Palestinian side of Rafah is controlled by Israel and nothing can enter without its permission. The Egyptian Red Crescent assured this Monday that it has sent a convoy consisting of 135 trucks for the second consecutive day carrying approximately 1,500 tons of food and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, amid a severe famine crisis in the enclave due to the Israeli blockade. Some of these trucks have already been able to cross from the Egyptian side of Rafah to Kerem Shalom, in Israeli territory, where the cargo will be inspected to obtain the approval of the Israeli authorities before entering Gaza, according to the Egyptian channel Al Qahera News, close to the Government. Deaths from starvation have skyrocketed in Gaza in recent weeks, following the almost total closure of access imposed by Israel in March, which prevented the entry of food, medicine, and fuel and dramatically worsened the nutritional crisis in the enclave.
