Why Rafah Border Crossing Is Crucial For Gazans Who Face A Looming Humanitarian Crisis Amid Israeli Strikes

Israel-Hamas War: The Rafah border crossing has in recent days witnessed multiple convoys of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip as residents of the Palestinian exclave face a looming humanitarian crisis due to Israeli bombardment. It is the sole border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

The United Nations has said that the aid material currently entering Gaza is not nearly enough to meet the needs of the 2.3 million population in Gaza, where clean water, food, medicines and fuel are in scarcity.

(Gaza Strip under Israeli bombardment after Hamas unleashed an onslaught in Israel last week. Pic Credits: Reuters)

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received 74 aid trucks into the Rafah crossing so far, including 12 on Thursday. UN officials say it would require nearly 100 aid trucks each day for distressed Gazans to meet their essential needs.

WHY RAFAH IS CRUCIAL FOR GAZANS?

The Rafah border crossing is the only land boundary that Gaza shares with a country other than Israel and hence is critical for people residing in the Palestinian territory to recieve humanitarian aid amidst the ongoing armed conflict between Hamas - the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip - and Israeli forces.

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Egypt reopened the border on October 21 to allow the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Since then, multiple convoys of trucks carrying much-needed critical material including water, food and medicines. However, the material transported by the trucks does not include fuel, which Israel says could be used in the conflict by Hamas.

Why Egypt Restricts Movement Through Rafah Border Crossing?

Since Hamas' takeover of Gaza in 2007, the territory has been under an indefinite blockade by Egypt and Israel due to concerns of spillover of the militant outfit's activities and to curb weapons smuggling. Egypt faced an Islamic insurgency in areas of the Sinai Peninsula near its border with the Gaza Strip that peaked after 2013 and has now largely been suppressed.

In 2008, tens of thousands of Palestinians crossed into Sinai after Hamas blasted holes in border fortifications, prompting Egypt to build a stone and cement wall. The Rafah border crossing has only been reopened by Egypt in an infrequent manner since 2007.

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Palestinian Authority's Support To Rafah's Closure

When Hamas took over the Gaza Strip after an armed conflict with Fatah in 2007, it expelled and heacily persecuted officials of the moderate Palestinian faction. The battle between Hamas and Fatah followed the 2006 Palestinian legislative election in which the latter faced defeat.

Fatah, which currently controls the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), opposes the permanent opening of the border crossing until its control on the Gazan side is taken back by the Palestinian Presidential Guards.

(With inputs from Reuters)