Roundup: Aid trucks queue at Rafah crossing as World Food Day highlights Gaza's hunger crisis

CAIRO, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- As World Food Day was observed on Thursday, long lines of aid trucks carrying life-sustaining essentials still lingered on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, a key route for humanitarian deliveries into the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Despite there being no clear timetable for entering the enclave, the drivers waited patiently, hoping to deliver essential relief to residents suffering from severe shortages and famine.

"Thanks to the ceasefire agreement that came into effect on Friday, we hope that at least 400 aid trucks can enter every day," Mahmoud Mansour, a driver in his 40s, told Xinhua. "The gap between what is allowed and what is needed in Gaza, in terms of food, health, fuel, and medical care, is big due to security and logistics issues."

"Israel should let us in," Mahmoud Mohamed, another truck driver, said. "The children of Gaza need food and medicine."

He recalled how, in previous phases of the war, aid convoys were repeatedly obstructed by "barriers, checkpoints, security screenings, and long delays imposed by the Israeli side."

"We will continue our work, keep waiting with great aspiration to deliver all the assistance Gazans need," Mohamed added.

Marking World Food Day, a coordinator from the Egyptian Red Crescent, Amal Wadie, urged Israeli authorities not to use hunger as a "weapon of war".

"We prepared thousands of tons of urgent food commodities, medicine, and fuel in light of the Egyptian efforts to provide food and relief support to the people in Gaza," she said.

She noted that more than 35,000 volunteers have been working around the clock since the war broke out, sending over 600,000 tons of aid to Gaza, while more than 6,000 trucks remain queued on the Egyptian side of Rafah.

On Tuesday, the World Food Program said that only 137 trucks had entered Gaza, and 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid were ready for delivery but awaiting Israeli clearance to scale up assistance for more than 2 million Palestinians.

Israel's government had previously threatened to keep Rafah closed, citing Hamas' delays in returning bodies of deceased hostages. On Tuesday, Israel decided to halt the reopening of the Rafah crossing and further reduce humanitarian aid to Gaza, as both sides traded accusations of violating the fragile ceasefire. ■