Egypt 3rd aid convoy heads to Gaza with 1,300 tons of supplies - Foreign Affairs
According to an ERC statement, the convoy includes around 440 tons of food baskets, 450 tons of flour, 150 tons of medical supplies, and roughly 200 tons of personal care items.
On Sunday, the ERC, the national coordination body for aid delivery to the Gaza Strip, launched its first aid convoy to Gaza after months of Israeli blockade.
The first convoy, named the 'Zad Al-Ezza: From Egypt to Gaza,' consisted of over 100 trucks, carrying over 1,200 tons of food supplies, including around 840 tons of flour and 450 tons of food baskets.
On Monday, Egypt dispatched its second convoy to Gaza, comprising 135 trucks loaded with more than 1,500 tons of aid, including 965 tons of food baskets, 350 tons of flour, and 200 tons of personal care items.
The ERC's efforts come as part of Egypt's steadfast support for the Palestinian people amid the ongoing famine in Gaza, aiming to alleviate their suffering exacerbated by the Israeli genocidal war and around five months of blockade.
The ERC, supported by 35,000 volunteers, is working tirelessly across all logistics hubs to ensure a steady flow of aid into Gaza.
Since 7 October 2023, the ERC has delivered 35,000 aid trucks to the Gaza Strip, carrying over 500,000 tons of direly needed humanitarian assistance.
These include food, water, medicines, medical equipment, relief supplies, hygiene kits, shelter materials, baby formula and diapers, as well as ambulances and fuel trucks.
Although Israel announced on Saturday a "tactical pause" in its military operations in parts of Gaza to allow the deliveries of humanitarian aid convoys to the strip, it bizarrely continued its attacks, killing more civilians.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army allowed the resumption of air-dropping aid into the Gaza Strip.
"The air-dropping of aid would not end the mass starvation in Gaza, caused by months of Israeli blockade on food and supplies," said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
According to a previous UN estimation, 600-800 humanitarian aid trucks are needed daily to keep the Gaza population alive.
The delivery of aid convoys came after a broad global condemnation of Israel's policies of mass starvation and blockade, which pushed Gaza's 2.3 million population into a catastrophic famine.
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Al-Ahram Weekly
2 hours ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
How one Gaza family dedicates each day to finding food to survive - War on Gaza
Every morning, Abeer and Fadi Sobh wake up in their tent in the Gaza Strip to the same question: How will they find food for themselves and their six young children amid the Israeli genocidal war and aid blockage? The couple has three options: Maybe a charity kitchen will be open, and they can get a pot of watery lentils. Or they can try jostling through crowds to get some flour from a passing aid truck. The last resort is begging. If all those fail, they simply don't eat. It happens more and more these days, as hunger saps their energy, strength and hope. The predicament of the Sobhs, who live in a seaside refugee camp west of Gaza City after being displaced multiple times by the Israeli occupation army, is the same for families throughout the war-ravaged territory. Hunger has grown throughout the past 22 months of war because of aid restrictions, humanitarian workers say. But food experts warned earlier this week that the 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza.' Israel enforced a complete blockade on food and other supplies for 2½ months beginning in March. Though the flow of aid resumed in May, the amount is a fraction of what aid organisations say is needed. A breakdown of law and order has also made it nearly impossible to safely deliver food. Much of the aid that does get in is hoarded or sold in markets at exorbitant prices. Since March 2, 2025, Israel has closed all crossings with the Strip, blocking the entry of most food and medical aid, causing widespread famine within the Strip. Medical sources announced Friday that 155 Palestinians died of famine-related causes, including 90 children. From May 27 to July 31, 859 people were killed in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, according to a United Nations report published Thursday. Hundreds more have been killed along the routes of food convoys. The Israeli occupation forces have continued their war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, killing 60,138 Palestinians, with nearly 146,269 reported injuries. Here is a look at a day in the life of the Sobh family: A morning seawater bath The family wakes up in their tent, which Fadi Sobh, a 30-year-old street vendor, says is unbearably hot in the summer. With fresh water hard to come by, his wife Abeer, 29, fetches water from the sea. One by one, the children stand in a metal basin and scrub themselves as their mother pours the saltwater over their heads. Nine-month-old Hala cries as it stings her eyes. The other children are more stoic. Abeer then rolls up the bedding and sweeps the dust and sand from the tent floor. With no food left over from the day before, she heads out to beg for something for her family's breakfast. Sometimes, neighbors or passersby give her lentils. Sometimes she gets nothing. Abeer gives Hala water from a baby bottle. When she's lucky, she has lentils that she grinds into powder to mix into the water. 'One day feels like 100 days, because of the summer heat, hunger, and the distress,' she said. A trip to the soup kitchen Fadi heads to a nearby soup kitchen. Sometimes one of the children goes with him. 'But food is rarely available there,' he said. The kitchen opens roughly once a week and never has enough for the crowds. Most often, he said, he waits all day but returns to his family with nothing, and the kids sleep hungry, without eating.' Fadi used to go to an area in northern Gaza where aid trucks arrive from Israel. There, giant crowds of equally desperate people swarm over the trucks and strip away the cargo of food. Often, Israeli troops nearby open fire, killing dozens of starving Palestinians. Fadi, who also has epilepsy, was shot in the leg last month. That has weakened him too much to scramble for the trucks, so he's left with trying the kitchens. Meanwhile, Abeer and her three eldest children — 10-year-old Youssef, 9-year-old Mohammed, and 7-year-old Malak — head out with plastic jerrycans to fill up from a truck that brings freshwater from central Gaza's desalination plant. The kids struggle with the heavy jerrycans. Youssef loads one onto his back, while Mohammed half-drags his, his little body bent sideways as he tries to keep it out of the dust of the street. A scramble for aid Abeer sometimes heads to Zikim herself, alone or with Youssef. Most of the crowd are men — faster and stronger than she is. 'Sometimes I manage to get food, and in many cases, I return empty-handed,' she said. If she's unsuccessful, she appeals to the sense of charity of those who succeeded. 'You survived death thanks to God. Please give me anything,' she tells them. Many answered her plea, and she got a small bag of flour to bake for the children, she said. She and her son have become familiar faces. One man who regularly waits for the trucks, Youssef Abu Saleh, said he often sees Abeer struggling to grab food, so he gives her some of his. 'They're poor people and her husband is sick,' he said. 'We're all hungry and we all need to eat.' During the hottest part of the day, the six children stay in or around the tent. Their parents prefer the children to sleep during the heat — it stops them from running around, using up energy, and getting hungry and thirsty. Foraging and begging in the afternoon As the heat eases, the children head out. Sometimes Abeer sends them to beg for food from their neighbours. Otherwise, they scour Gaza's bombed-out streets, foraging through the rubble and trash for anything to fuel the family's makeshift stove. They've become good at recognising what might burn. Scraps of paper or wood are best, but hardest to find. The bar is low: plastic bottles, plastic bags, an old shoe — anything will do. One of the boys came across a pot in the trash one day — it's what Abeer now uses to cook. The family has been displaced so many times, they have few belongings left. 'I have to manage to get by,' Abeer said. 'What can I do? We are eight people.' If they're lucky, lentil stew for dinner After a day spent searching for the absolute basics to sustain life — food, water, fuel to cook — the family sometimes has enough of all three for Abeer to make a meal. Usually, it's a thin lentil soup. But often there is nothing, and they all go to bed hungry. Abeer said she's grown weak and often feels dizzy when she's out searching for food or water. 'I am tired. I am no longer able,' she said. 'If the war goes on, I am thinking of taking my life. I no longer have any strength or power.' * This article has been edited by Ahram Online. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
a day ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
PHOTO GALLERY: Starved Palestinians search for some food and a drink of water in Gaza!
Palestinians transport gallons of clean water from a distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP Palestinians transport gallons of clean water from a distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP A Palestinian child covers his head with a bucket as he and others carry gallons of clear water from a distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP A Palestinian child covers his head with a bucket as he and others carry gallons of clear water from a distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP Palestinians receive lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP Palestinians receive lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP Palestinian children carry gallons of clean water from a distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP Palestinian children carry gallons of clean water from a distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP Palestinians receive lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP Palestinians receive lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP A Palestinian child covers his head with a bucket as he carries a gallon of clear water from a distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP A Palestinian child covers his head with a bucket as he carries a gallon of clear water from a distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP Palestinians receive lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP Palestinians receive lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP A Palestinian boy drinks lentil soup that he obtained at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP A Palestinian boy drinks lentil soup that he obtained at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP Palestinian children eat their meal from cooking pans in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP Palestinian children eat their meal from cooking pans in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP A Palestinian boy receives the last drops of lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP A Palestinian boy receives the last drops of lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP TOPSHOT - Palestinians receive lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP TOPSHOT - Palestinians receive lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City on August 1, 2025. AFP
Al-Ahram Weekly
2 days ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
5th Egyptian aid convoy heads to Gaza with 1,200 tons of supplies - Foreign Affairs
Egypt's fifth humanitarian aid convoy, comprising over 100 trucks with 1,200 tons of essential supplies, lined up on the Egyptian border on Thursday and is on its way to Gaza via the Karm Abu Salem crossing. The supplies in the convoy include approximately 840 tons of flour and 450 tons of assorted food baskets, according to a statement by the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC). The fifth Egyptian convoy comes as Egypt intensifies efforts to send urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza as Israel continues a five-month deadly blockade on the strip that plunged the 2.3 million population into famine and starvation. On Sunday, the ERC, the national coordination body for aid delivery to the Gaza Strip, launched Egypt's first aid convoy to Gaza, named 'Zad Al-Ezza: From Egypt to Gaza,' after five months of total blockade by Israel. During the first three days of Egypt's humanitarian initiative, Egypt has delivered over 4,000 tons of humanitarian supplies to Gaza, despite bureaucratic and logistical obstacles on the Israeli side. The statement highlighted that the ERC has been present at the border since the beginning of the crisis and that the Rafah crossing has never been closed from the Egyptian side. The organization has remained on high alert, mobilizing 35,000 volunteers to ensure the delivery of aid. "Since the onset of the crisis, more than 35,000 aid trucks carrying over 130,000 tons of humanitarian assistance have entered Gaza," the ERC reported. These included food, water, medical supplies, medicines, shelter items, personal hygiene products, infant formula, diapers, ambulances, and fuel trucks. Al-Azhar's Zakat and Charity House also announced the dispatch of its 11th humanitarian convoy as part of its international campaign 'Aid Gaza.' The convoy carried thousands of tons of food and relief aid, as well as 1,000 fully equipped tents to provide shelter for Palestinian families who lost their homes due to Israel's genocidal war. The organization stated that the aid includes essential medications, medical supplies, infant formula, healthcare products, clothing, blankets, canned food, and drinking water. Simultaneously, 25 trucks from the UAE entered Gaza via the Rafah crossing, carrying equipment for potable water pipelines, intended to establish a new clean water line in southern Gaza. Meanwhile, Jordan dispatched a 60-truck humanitarian aid convoy loaded with food to support the people of Gaza amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis. According to Jordan's official news agency Petra, the convoy was organized in coordination with the Jordanian Armed Forces, the World Food Programme, and the World Central Kitchen. In tandem, on Wednesday, four Egyptian military transport aircraft, carrying tons of food aid, conducted an airdrop on Wednesday over areas in the Gaza Strip that are difficult to access by land. In exclusive statements to Al Arabiya and Al Hadath news channels on Wednesday, Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty described the US/Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as 'a mechanism of death' for starving Palestinians who line up every day to receive food from its four designated distribution sites. Since May, Israeli troops have killed an wounded hundreds of aid-seekers at so-called 'aid centres', triggering an international wave of condemnation of the GHF and Israel for its months-long deadly blockade on the strip. FM Abdelatty also accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war, describing the famine in Gaza as "beyond imagination." Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
