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A group of Egyptian activists on Friday delivered a consignment of humanitarian aid to Egypt's Rafah border crossing with the embattled Gaza Strip, a member of the aid convoy has said.
"We delivered the aid shipment to Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers at the Rafah border terminal who will bring it into the Gaza Strip," Rashwan Shaaban, deputy undersecretary of the Egyptian Doctors Syndicate, told Anadolu Agency.
Shaaban – who, along with three other syndicate members and four activists, accompanied the aid convoy from Cairo – said they had reached the crossing on Friday morning.
Last week, Egyptian authorities prevented the convoy from approaching Rafah, citing security concerns.
Since July 7, Israel has pummeled the Gaza Strip – from air, land and sea – with the ostensible aim of halting Palestinian rocket fire.
At least 828 Palestinians have been killed in the blockaded territory since Israel's offensive began, while more than 5000 have been injured, many critically.
Over the same period, 35 Israelis – 33 soldiers and two civilians – have also been killed.
Israel's operation "Protective Edge," which continued unabated on Friday, is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populated Gaza Strip – home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.
In 2008/09, over 1500 Palestinians were killed – the vast majority of them civilians – during Israel's three-week-long "Operation Cast Lead."
Since last summer's ouster of Mohamed Morsi – Egypt's first freely elected president – by the army, Egypt has kept the Rafah border crossing closed for the most part.
The Egypt-Gaza Rafah border terminal represents the embattled coastal strip's only window to the outside world to remain outside Israeli control.
Egypt's army-backed authorities generally only open the crossing for exceptional cases and for limited periods of time.
By Islam Mosaad
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en - Kahire
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