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The city of Al Arish, which had held significant volumes of aid bound for Gaza, finds itself oddly quiet four days after a ceasefire deal allowed the entry of humanitarian assistance to resume. The lifting of restrictions under the truce has sparked an increase in aid shipments travelling to the Rafah crossing, with lorries lining the roads leading to Egypt's border with Gaza.
Since the war in Gaza began on October 7 2023, Al Arish has served as the main city for aid destined for the enclave, with supplies piling up in warehouses and storage units amid Israeli restrictions on the border.
“All the action is at Rafah now,” said an Egyptian Red Crescent officer in the city. “No more lorries must come and unload or wait here in Al Arish. The crossing is fully open now, so they usually go straight there and wait outside there instead of coming here.”
Shipments of blankets, undergarments and winter clothes have continued to enter Gaza through Egypt since Sunday, according to Abdo Nasr, a driver at the Rafah border crossing delivering a shipment of blankets.
Drivers of the large aid lorries, sent to the Egypt-Gaza border since the start of the war, have had to endure long wait times at the border due to repeated closures of the crossing by the Israeli military, which has been in control of the Rafah crossing since May.
“It’s a really hard job but it’s only a small part of what we have to do for our Palestinian brothers to whom I want to offer my deepest apologies that we couldn’t do more to stop their suffering. So many of them were killed. I am happy to be a part of getting whatever Palestinians need for them in Gaza, it makes me proud,” Mr Nasr said.
Ibrahim Asaad, 34, is parked near the entrance of the Tahya Misr tunnel in Ismailia, which cuts under the Suez Canal and into the Sinai Peninsula. He has been waiting in a queue of what he described as “thousands of lorries” for the past two days. He is waiting on clearance from Egypt’s General Intelligence Service (GIS) to cross into Sinai. Mr Asaad is carrying World Food Programme food packages, which he loaded from a warehouse in Cairo, according to his shipment manifesto which he shared with The National.
The shipments were sent to Egypt by the WFP on October 2 but have been in storage since due to border closures.
Clearance from the GIS to enter the Sinai Peninsula is a routine procedure, even for tourists. The GIS has been one of the main Egyptian agencies involved in ceasefire talks and handles the movement and security permits of both people and goods in and out of Gaza, in co-ordination with the Israeli army.
The drivers of the aid lorries are employed by contractors who are granted rights by the government to distribute aid, a representative from Sina Scape, a company sending WFP food packages to Gaza, told The National. Relief is also sent by charities.
Once they arrive in Rafah, drivers are given a number and wait before entering Gaza.
Queues and searches
“We, the drivers, are not entirely clear on who gets to enter first and for what reasons. We are sure that it is not on a first come first serve basis, because some contractors’ lorries enter with minimal searches while others wait for weeks and months to enter,” said Mr Nasr.
When it is their turn to enter, they are notified by their company and are asked to drive to the crossing, where they are searched by the Egyptian military first then once again by representatives of Abnaa Sina – a trading and contracting firm owned by the pro-government Bedouin magnate Ibrahim Al Organi.
“After the military is done with searching us, we drive a little further down where agents in vests that read Abnaa Sina and Al Organi Group search us again. These searches are different from the military checkpoints because they are usually searching for contraband being snuck into Gaza that previous checks might have missed,” said Mr Asaad.
“Many drivers had made a habit throughout the war of smuggling cigarettes into Gaza. There had been shortages inside the strip and cigarettes were being sold for US dollars to agents inside. Many have been caught by the military or Al Organi’s people,” he claimed.
Once past the searches, the lorries proceed to Israeli inspection points, which often present a challenge.
Ahmed Husseiny, a driver waiting at Rafah with a shipment of shoes, said he had been parked at the border for 20 days as part of the group of vehicles awaiting entry into the enclave before the ceasefire.
Mr Husseiny described the unpredictable nature of the crossing in December, with the Israelis allowing only a handful of lorries through each day. “Some days, the Israelis would close the crossing and we would have to wait. Some days, they would allow in two or three lorries. Other days they would allow a little more or a little less.”
After entering through the Awga border crossing on Sunday night and waiting at the inspection unit until Monday morning, Mr Husseiny said he was denied entry and was asked to return to the Egyptian side to obtain a new queue number. He believes this was due to an altercation with an Israeli soldier who accused him of trying to run him over, an allegation he denies.
“The Israeli officer who searched my documents was very rude and aggressive. They are often that way. Very rough and always ready to take offence,” he said. Upon returning to the Egyptian side, an intelligence officer reviewed security footage from the incident and cleared Mr Husseiny to rejoin the queue.
After passing the Israeli checkpoints, the aid lorries currently unload their cargo at the Karam Abu Salem, where it is transferred to UN vehicles for distribution within the enclave. However, this process is expected to change soon, as the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing undergoes repairs after damage sustained during Israeli bombardments.
The Egyptian Red Crescent officer reported that between 10 and 15 lorries carrying construction equipment, including bulldozers, cranes and building materials, entered Gaza to allow the repair work. The crossing is anticipated to be operational by Sunday.
During a media conference in Rafah on Tuesday, North Sinai Governor Khaled Megawer announced that the border crossing was no longer closed. However, he said repairs were necessary before aid shipments could resume to the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, rather than at Karem Abu Salem under Israeli supervision.
This shift marks a return to the prewar aid delivery process, where drivers would cross directly to the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing to unload their cargo without the additional step of passing through an Israeli-controlled checkpoint.