The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said on Thursday that no one has been allowed to enter or leave the Gaza Strip for the past three days, since the Israeli forces stormed the border crossing with tanks and military vehicles and took it over.
Griffiths stated that “the closure of the border crossings prevented the supply of fuel to Gaza,” pointing to the suspension of the movement of aid trucks, generators, water, electricity, people and products into the Strip.
“Civilians are being killed and starving in Gaza, and we are prevented from helping them,” Griffiths said.
Doctors Without Borders issued an urgent call for help to get the border open, because the Palestinians sealed inside the Gaza Strip on all sides (Rafah was the only entry point for aid) are now completely closed off from the world with no way to get aid in.
We’re calling for the protection of civilians and the reopening of the Rafah border crossing.
The closure of this key entry point into Gaza is jeopardizing the humanitarian response, leaving fuel, food, medicines & water dangerously low. https://t.co/OlPT6vzQeC pic.twitter.com/QiYHdcCUIp
— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) May 8, 2024
Injured children (over 75,000 Palestinians have been injured in the past seven months) who need to travel outside Gaza for urgent medical care are now stuck inside Gaza with no way to exit to receive their lifesaving medical treatment.
Israel has seized and closed the Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world.
This means 8-year-old Lama can’t leave Gaza to have the surgery she needs, after being injured in an Israeli airstrike last month. pic.twitter.com/ddfU2TlRn4
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 8, 2024
The International Federation of the Red Cross called for the immediate opening of the crossing.
Last Tuesday morning, the Israeli occupation forces occupied the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, stopped the flow of aid to the Gaza Strip, and launched a series of violent raids on the eastern areas of Rafah, resulting in dozens of Palestinians killed and injured.
Another Welcome Sign at the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and Southern Gaza seen being Destroyed earlier this morning by a Merkava lV Main Battle Tank with the 401st “Iron Tracks” Armor Brigade, with this Sign reading “I Love Gaza.” pic.twitter.com/ftNZhncRWs
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) May 7, 2024
Since the beginning of the ground operation launched by the occupation forces on the Gaza Strip on October 27, citizens have been asked to go from the north and center of the Gaza Strip to the south, claiming that they are “safe areas.”
Al Mayadeen has reported that the Israeli government has announced its plan to hand over control of the border crossing to an American mercenary company run by Erik Prince, the notorious militia leader known for his company Blackwater that committed many crimes against civilians in Iraq.
Al Mayadeen reported that Erik Prince is a former US Navy SEAL who was behind the revival of the private security industry. Notoriously known for Blackwater and his involvement in the Iraq War, he established another private military company called Reflex Responses – or R2 – after he sold Blackwater to investors as an escape from controversy. The UAE secretly hired both companies, Blackwater and R2, to go to Yemen.
Blackwater, which has massacred scores of Iraqis, has taken pride in employing Colombians and other Latin American military mercenaries, known for their brutal tactics including torture of suspects, from soldiers to commanders.
Rafah is 65 square kilometres, and is hosting more than 1.5 million Palestinians displaced from the north and central parts of Gaza, facing dire conditions with thousands of tents scattered across the city.
