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President Joe Biden says he struck a deal with his Egyptian counterpart to allow a first run of 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, which Israel sealed off after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
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Israel says it’s now ready to honor Biden’s request to let in limited humanitarian aid.
The Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies and the United Nations are expected to help oversee the operation, in part to ensure the supplies from the convoy through the Rafah Crossing on Egypt’s border with Gaza reaches civilians – not combatants.
Officials at the U.N. health agency say they’re “praying” the first tranche will go in on Friday.
Here’s a look at what could be expected to go in, and how.
The United Nations and its various agencies – the World Health Organization, the World Food Program, and children’s agency UNICEF among them – along with partners like Red Cross and Red Crescent groups are accustomed to moving needed goods to troubled areas.
They often move in what’s called an “inter-agency convoy,” meaning a hodgepodge of aid groups.
At a news briefing Thursday, WHO’s emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, waved a paper in the air with a long list of medical supplies that his agency hopes to get into Gaza with five truckloads that it has at the ready: amputation kits, intubation kits, pneumothorax kits for people with punctured lungs, wound dressings, anesthetics and painkillers.
WFP spokesman Martin Rentsch said some 951 metric tons (1000 tons) of food were at the border or on their way there, enough to feed nearly a half-million people for a week. He said high-energy biscuits and canned foods that don’t need to be cooked were often deployed in such urgent situations.
Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, said: “Hamas doesn’t need baby food and bottled water – we…
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