In order to be able to better help the people in the Gaza Strip, Foreign Minister Baerbock is calling for the Rafah border crossing to be opened for 24 hours. There are 3,000 trucks loaded with relief supplies waiting to enter.
After a visit to Rafah on the Egyptian border, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed her shock at the humanitarian plight of the people in the Gaza Strip. “Life in Gaza is hell,” said Baerbock. She called for the Egyptian Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip to be opened for 24 hours in order to be able to better help the people there. “We will do everything we can to achieve this,” she continued.
There were 3,000 fully loaded trucks jammed in the border area with relief supplies that could not enter the Gaza Strip to supply 1.9 million people a few kilometers further in the Gaza Strip. Given the dramatic situation of the population, this cannot continue. The trucks could not wait for days at this bottleneck, said Baerbock.
“The hospitals that still exist in Gaza must be able to function,” added the Federal Foreign Minister. The doctors in Gaza must work and have enough anesthetics and medication, demanded Baerbock. At the same time, those Palestinians who cannot be treated there should be able to be taken to places such as the Egyptian hospital in Al-Arish. “This is a huge task for all of us,” she said before visiting the hospital.
Humanitarian ceasefires
In Israel, additional border crossings would also have to be opened in order to be able to transport relief supplies to the Gaza Strip from there. Israel requires its own inspection of the goods before delivery. The trucks are then often stuck at the border crossing for days due to restrictions, as the United Nations also reports on site.
It is also crucial that there be a humanitarian ceasefire again, demanded Baerbock. Aid organizations need better access to the coastal strip and the safety of employees must be guaranteed.
Annalena Baerbock comes out of a Bundeswehr Air Force plane with aid deliveries for Gaza.
Ten tons of aid for the Palestinians
At the airport in Al-Arish near the border crossing, Baerbock had previously handed over a ten-ton aid package for Palestinians. The goods will be made available to the Egyptian Red Crescent. Included are sleeping mats, blankets, children’s sleeping bags and camp beds for people in Gaza.
Since the beginning of the war in response to the Hamas massacre on October 7th, Germany has almost tripled its humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories to a total of 203 million euros, according to the Foreign Office.