Second Aid Convoy Enters Gaza

Egyptian Red Crescent members and volunteers gather next to a truck carrying humanitarian aid as it drives through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt October 22, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
Egyptian Red Crescent members and volunteers gather next to a truck carrying humanitarian aid as it drives through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt October 22, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
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Second Aid Convoy Enters Gaza

Egyptian Red Crescent members and volunteers gather next to a truck carrying humanitarian aid as it drives through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt October 22, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
Egyptian Red Crescent members and volunteers gather next to a truck carrying humanitarian aid as it drives through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt October 22, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

A convoy of 19 trucks bringing aid to besieged Palestinians crossed into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing on Sunday, Egypt’s state-run media reported.

A total of around 19 trucks in the convoy carrying medical and food supplies had been inspected by UNRWA, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, sources said.

The delivery would be the second shipment into the territory in the past two days.

Residents of Gaza have been under an Israeli blockade that cut off food, water, medicine and electricity since Hamas rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7.

The more than 2 million residents of the territory have been struggling under Israeli airstrikes and with dwindling resources since then.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said it will run out of fuel in Gaza in three days.

“Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries. Without fuel, aid will not reach many civilians in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance,” Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA Commissioner General, said in a statement Sunday.

A first delivery of aid that was allowed to cross into Gaza from Egypt on Saturday did not include any fuel.

"Without fuel, we will fail the people of Gaza whose needs are growing by the hour, under our watch. This cannot and should not happen,” Lazzarini said.

He called on “all parties and those with influence” to allow fuel into Gaza immediately, while ensuring that it is only used for humanitarian purposes.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said some of the water pipelines in Gaza have been restored, but “there are a couple of other pipelines” that Israel should restore.

He told NBC News in an interview that the US has concern about the spread of disease caused by the consumption of dirty water.



Hamas Official Says Group Open to Freeing Hostages, Five-Year Truce in Gaza

08 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: Fighter of the Ezzeddine al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas hand over Israeli Hostages Or Levy (R), Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in the fifth batch of the first phase of the ceasefire exchange deal. (dpa)
08 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: Fighter of the Ezzeddine al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas hand over Israeli Hostages Or Levy (R), Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in the fifth batch of the first phase of the ceasefire exchange deal. (dpa)
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Hamas Official Says Group Open to Freeing Hostages, Five-Year Truce in Gaza

08 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: Fighter of the Ezzeddine al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas hand over Israeli Hostages Or Levy (R), Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in the fifth batch of the first phase of the ceasefire exchange deal. (dpa)
08 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: Fighter of the Ezzeddine al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas hand over Israeli Hostages Or Levy (R), Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in the fifth batch of the first phase of the ceasefire exchange deal. (dpa)

Hamas is open to an agreement to end the Gaza war that would include the one-time release of all remaining hostages and a five-year cessation of hostilities, an official from the Palestinian group said Saturday.

"Hamas is ready for an exchange of prisoners in a single batch and a truce for five years," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, as a delegation from his group was set to meet mediators in Cairo later in the day.

On April 17, Hamas, which opposes a "partial" ceasefire agreement, rejected an Israeli proposal that included a 45-day truce in exchange for the return of 10 living hostages.

The group has consistently demanded that a truce agreement must lead to the end of the war, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a prisoner exchange, and the immediate and sufficient entry of humanitarian aid into the war-battered Palestinian territory.

Israel, for its part, demands the return of all hostages and the disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza -- the latter being a "red line" for the movement.

The war was triggered by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures.

Of the 251 people taken hostage that day, 58 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 who are dead, according to the Israeli army.

A truce from January 19 to March 17 allowed the return of 33 hostages to Israel, including eight who were deceased, in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

According to figures published by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, at least 2,062 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive resumed on March 18, bringing the total death toll in Gaza to 51,439 since the start of the war.