Israel-Palestine conflict: UN chief pushes to get Gaza aid trucks moving but process is slow

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Rafah border crossing on Friday and said aid trucks needed to move as quickly as possible from Egypt into the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza to alleviate a humanitarian crisis.

The crossing has become a focus of attention since Israel began its mass bombing of Gaza in retaliation for Hamas' deadly assault on southern Israel on October 7.

Gaza is running short of fuel, food, water, and medicine but the Egyptian-controlled border has remained shut while various parties wrangle over terms for allowing aid to flow in.

Guterres flew to Egypt on Friday in a push to get the trucks moving.

"These trucks are not just trucks — they are a lifeline, they are the difference between life and death to many people in Gaza," he said, speaking on the Egyptian side of the crossing.

"To see them stuck here makes me very clear — what we need is to make them move, to make them move to the other side of this wall to make them move as quickly as possible and as many as possible."

Gutteres, dressed in a dark suit under the desert sun, also called for a swift system of verification of the aid shipments.

"We are now actively engaging with all the parties, actively engaging with Egypt, with Israel, with the US, in order to make sure that we are able to clarify those conditions...in order to have as soon as possible these trucks moving to where they are needed," he said.

He was swarmed by Egyptian protesters chanting pro-Palestinian slogans as he spoke.

In Geneva, the UN humanitarian office said it was in advanced talks with all parties in the Israel-Hamas conflict to ensure an aid operation can soon get underway in Gaza.

Earlier, the US had said details of a deal to send aid through the Rafah crossing were still being hammered out. Agreement had been reached for the passage of the first 20 trucks, it also said.

This would still only be a fraction of what is required. Before the outbreak of conflict, about 450 aid trucks were arriving there daily.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people depend on humanitarian aid. The coastal enclave has been under a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt since Hamas took control of it in 2007.

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Conditions set to allow aid delivery

Rafah is the only crossing with Gaza for goods and people that does not border Israel.

Efforts to get aid in have been complicated by the need to agree on a mechanism to inspect the aid, and a push by the US to evacuate foreign passport holders from Gaza.