As state-sanctioned protests rage across the Arab world after the deadly al Ahli hospital explosion in Gaza, Egypt is no exception.
President Abdel fattah el Sisi has called on people to protest in support of the Palestinian cause and the opening of the Rafah border crossing for aid transfer – a far cry from his usually heavy-handed disciplinary approach towards civil unrest.
While a schedule is being shared for a full day of nationwide protests on Friday, a smaller demonstration is happening at a critical junction.
Truck drivers have been told ‘today or tomorrow’ for five days
The volunteers tasked with getting much-needed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip from Egypt are holding a sit-in at the Rafah border crossing.
In front of the gates, young men dressed in all black hold up a sign with the words “stationed until relief” painted across it. The day passes as they wait for the green light to come – even praying in the sun as war rages beyond the wall.
As the trucks line up on the sides of the long road that goes straight to Gaza, they make calls back and forth to aid coordinators in Cairo who share their frustration.
One of them is Heba Rashed, the CEO of the Mersal Foundation. Her organisation has been permitted to send trucks with critical care medication, surgical supplies, baby milk and body bags into Gaza.
Days have passed and nothing has got through.
Heba says she watches videos of hospitals brimming with casualties and cries every night knowing the aid is stuck at the border.
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Trucks carrying humanitarian aid from Egyptian charities at the Rafah crossing
“There are mixed feelings of anger, disability, sorrow and devastation. It is a killing feeling to be unable to reach people who need help,” says Heba.
“We want it to open immediately – for it to open now.”
Aid coordinators and truck drivers have been told “today or tomorrow” for five days now.
Israel does not want Hamas to access aid
During President Biden’s visit to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not thwart the delivery of food, water and medicine from Egypt for civilians in Gaza as long as this aid does not “reach Hamas”. Therein lies Israel’s terms for opening a humanitarian corridor – conditions on aid access that are very difficult to monitor or guarantee.
On his flight home from Tel Aviv, President Biden said he took a call from his Egyptian counterpart, who agreed to open the Rafah crossing and allow about 20 lorries carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza. Egypt confirmed that its president had agreed to provide aid to Gaza “in a sustainable manner”.
On Monday, Egypt’s foreign minister said Israel was not allowing humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, as reports circulated that Israel wanted to search the trucks that would enter.
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Mo Salah pleads for peace in Gaza
Hours passed and the US-led diplomatic impasse was clear. Egypt and Israel’s historic trust issues had resurfaced over the same border crossing that was once a key smuggling route. Over the last decade, Israel pushed Egypt to crack down on the tunnel systems that had moved people, cars and weapons into Gaza for years.
The Rafah border crossing has since been sanitised as Egypt militarised the Sinai region but once again it feels like another front in this conflict.
As more aid built up on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike hit the crossing – the fourth airstrike near the border gates since the war started.
Palestinians wait to cross to the Egyptian side at Rafah border, Gaza Strip. Pic: AP
‘Death is everywhere’
In Gaza, Caux scholar and teacher Mohamed Rantisi and his family are caught between the danger of the contentious crossing and the airstrikes hitting the southern neighbourhood of Rafah. He evacuated his home in the north on Israel’s orders and says a bomb went through his living room shortly after.
“Living in Gaza is a horror where death is everywhere,” Mohamed says. “From south to north every place is being targeted so heavily and savagely.”
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Mohamed and his family of nine are sheltering in a three-bedroom 120 square metre apartment with 31 other people. They are staying as close as possible to the Egyptian border in the hope that they can evacuate. The safe exit of foreign nationals from the Gaza Strip is currently being negotiated by diplomats, but as a Palestinian national, Mohamed’s fate is uncertain.
“Leaving home is the worst thing that can happen to a human in their entire life. It is leaving love, security and memories,” he says.
Mohamed and his family on a beach in Gaza
There is growing anxiety in Egypt around reports of pressure for the country to resettle Palestinians in the Sinai region.
It is a plan that Egypt’s president has publicly denounced but is also rejected by Palestinians, who see this as a second “Nakba”, when 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced in the formation of Israel in 1948.
For Mohamed, the safety of his family is paramount. He wants to evacuate with his children and grandchildren and has no intention of staying in Egypt. He has two adult children in Europe and hopes of resettling with them. For those children in danger with him, he has to keep their morale high.
“I am telling my children to be human and not be affected by this senseless, horrible savage killing,” he says.
“To keep their humanity and to be strong so that we can come out safe from this war and come back to help our people rebuild their houses and care for the orphans that have resulted from this war.”
