The Electronic Intifada 11 January 2009
Ambulances line up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza waiting to receive evacuated wounded Palestinians. (Pablo de Soto/IRIN)
RAFAH, EGYPT (IRIN) - With Israel’s two-week military offensive in Gaza showing no signs of abating, patience is running thin among those waiting to get into the Strip from the Egyptian border town of Rafah, the Palestinians’ only access to the outside world that is not controlled by Israel.
Every day, local and foreign doctors, nurses, truck drivers and journalists, among others, wait on the Egyptian side of the border for the opportunity to enter Gaza during the daily three-hour ceasefire.
“It’s become routine. You come and wait for something to happen,” an Egyptian journalist from a local government newspaper who preferred anonymity told IRIN.
The Gaza-Egypt border runs right through Rafah town. Near the border crossing on the Egyptian side, groups of people gather on the pavement next to the main road making small talk while they wait for the gate to open. A run-down kiosk makes brisk business selling tea and biscuits to this daily gathering after months of inactivity due to the previous full closure of the border.
The talk and tea drinking is eventually punctured by a massive explosion on the other side of the border. When the dust has settled, those waiting begin asking the usual questions: “When will Israel stop firing? When will the gate be opened? Who will get in today and who will be denied access?” Nobody has the answers.
Medics allowed through
On 9 January, the Egyptian authorities finally admitted a group of doctors from the Arab Medics Union to cross through to Gaza. Forty-six had arrived at the border two days earlier hoping to cross over and offer their assistance in Gaza. On 10 January, more medics were allowed in, including 11 Egyptians, three Jordanians and one Belgian, according to media reports.
More medical teams are planning missions to Rafah border in response to calls for support by Palestinian doctors inside Gaza. However, their calls come amid a slowdown in humanitarian operations in Gaza after aid workers have been killed and a United Nations installation bombed by the Israeli army.
Only trucks carrying medical materials can qualify to pass through the Rafah border crossing, where Egyptian authorities are tasked with conducting thorough searches of all vehicles. On the way back, trucks are sometimes used to evacuate Gaza’s wounded to hospitals in the Egyptian city of al-Arish.
Foodstuffs and other aid are not allowed through the Rafah crossing, so are usually sent through the Kerem Shalom crossing, some four kilometers away from Rafah, and which is under the control of Israel.
Tarek Mahalawy of the ministry of health in al-Arish told IRIN that Egypt is doing its best to facilitate humanitarian work across the borders. “The main problem is not with the Rafah border crossing, but with Mafraq al-Shouhada [checkpoint], about 15 kilometers away from Rafah in Gaza, where some of the wounded are allowed to be evacuated to Egypt, while others are denied access by Israel for political reasons,” he said.
Egyptian government blamed
Many on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing are holding the Egyptian government responsible for delays and confusion over the border’s opening. In front of the main gate, a feud erupted between Egyptian security personnel and Khalil Anis, the Palestinian head of London-based non-governmental organization Justice for Gaza, who protested the complicated procedures of checking the contents of each truck and the subsequent delays at the border.
“The stuff in the trucks has to get to the people of Gaza on time. It’s not ours, it’s theirs. It has been donated to them,” Anis told IRIN furiously.
The Rafah border crossing was exclusively controlled by the Israeli Airports Authority until 2005, when Israel withdrew from Gaza. The crossing was then handed to the European Union Border Assistance Mission and was ordered closed by Israel most of the time in 2006 for “security reasons” and completely closed in 2007, when the democratically-elected Hamas party took over the administration of Gaza.
This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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