It was nearly three in the afternoon when Mohamed Atef, a man in his thirties who drives an aid truck to the Gaza Strip, stood by his truck loaded with food in front of the Rafah land crossing. His features carried a warning of mounting anger; he and his colleagues had not moved for a week as they waited to enter the crossing.
The aid trucks were stalled, and with them the dream of swift relief for a Gazan in need of food or medicine amid war and destruction. Atef says: “We keep vigil in front of the crossing every time we drive aid trucks; we wait for days and in the end we may succeed in getting through. In truth, we do not fear the continuous Israeli occupation bombardment; either we bring in the aid and come out safely, or we are martyred like them.”
After the forty-ninth day, Mohamed was barred from entering the Strip again, because his image and voice reached social media platforms and caused a great stir over the waiting and intransigence that truck drivers face from the occupation. The occupation government then sent a warning about him, and he was banned from carrying aid to Gaza ever again.
Shortly before 1 December, international and Arab efforts succeeded in implementing a humanitarian truce and a temporary ceasefire, during which aid trucks entered at a density unseen since the start of the war, together with fuel trucks for the first time. According to official statements, from 21 October until the first of this month, 2,781 trucks entered carrying thousands of tonnes of international aid (3,176 tonnes of medical and pharmaceutical aid, 13,348 tonnes of food, 10,359 tonnes of water, 3,203 tonnes of other relief materials and 137 tonnes of tents).
To Gaza
Mohamed Ahmed Abdel Sabour, a truck driver from Sharqia governorate, helped transport water to the people of Gaza. He arrived in the city of Arish as part of a fleet of trucks carrying water and food. He says: “I drove my truck, which I work with in Menoufia governorate, to Arish to answer the humanitarian and relief call. I agreed to take part as soon as I was offered to head to Rafah with a shipment of water.” He added that he is waiting for his turn to enter the Strip again, standing with his truck on the Egyptian side of the crossing, and that he “will not tire of waiting”.
According to a briefing by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Lynn Hastings, last Wednesday, in the north of the Strip Gazans get about 1.8 litres of clean water per person per day, against the global standard of 15 litres of water per person per day. In the south, a person gets about 1.5 litres of water per day. While some trucks carrying clean water tanks enter from Egypt, UNRWA continues to operate nine water wells pumping about 10,000 cubic metres to provide drinking and domestic water supplies. Water trucking to shelters in the Rafah and Khan Younis areas also continues.
A number of truck drivers describe to Zawia3 how they arrange their lives to make them closer to normal life in their daily routines, from preparing the trucks through the waiting to finally reaching the Strip. They stay in a warehouse where they have set up an oven to prepare food and a stock of dry groceries, and there are community organisations that provide daily meals on the Egyptian side to those of them who cannot afford them.
Driver Ahmed Mohamed, who came from Cairo, is about 50 years old and is accompanied by his young son Hassan. He says: “It was necessary to arrange our means of living somehow; we do not know how long we will stay here. We brought tea and coffee, and the people of Sinai are friendly with us; they welcome us and invite us to their homes, which makes the hardships much easier for us.”
The driver, who carries food in his truck, adds: “One of the troubles at the crossing is that communication networks are completely cut off, which forces me to move two kilometres to call my family to check on them, and this happens twice a day. Naturally, I go on foot because there is no transport and the truck cannot move out of its line.”
As for Anwar Salama, a driver from Dakahlia governorate, he says: “The drivers here consider themselves on a humanitarian mission, and so any hardships seem small in comparison.” He adds: “I am used to the life of crossings; I carry goods to many countries and may have to wait, which is part of the job, but I have never stayed this long before.” Drivers Mohamed Sabry Darwish and Tarek Sobhy, both from Kafr El-Sheikh, share his view. They came with food, especially “fava beans, tahini, honey and beef”. The three drivers express their goal, and that all their dreams now lie in delivering this food to the people of the Strip.
After nearly 49 days of intense Israeli bombardment, near-total siege and street-to-street fighting in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day cessation of hostilities to allow the release of dozens of hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners. This pause, which began on 23 November, provided an opportunity to increase the amount of humanitarian aid delivered, as it saw the entry of 200 aid trucks daily, including 4 trucks carrying cooking gas and 3 fuel trucks carrying 150,000 litres of diesel, in addition to trucks carrying water, food and medicine. But the efforts made so far have failed to meet the basic needs of most of the population of the devastated Strip, as 80% of the Gaza Strip’s population have been forced to flee their homes. During the truce, the World Food Programme recorded that 97% of households in the north and 83% of households in the south do not have enough food. This means they may eat one meal a day or one meal every two days. In the north, nearly 50% of households suffered severe levels of hunger. In the south, the proportion is one third.
The trucks line up from about 50 metres from the Rafah crossing and stretch for about two kilometres. Dr Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent branch in North Sinai, comments on the scene: “The phrase ‘Just the distance of the road for our people in Gaza’, written on the trucks, seems more real here than anywhere else, and expresses the genuine mettle of the Egyptian people.”
Driver Essam Saeed recounts his experience of entering the Gaza Strip for the first time: “After 7 days I crossed with my truck; I was the second driver to cross, carrying medical aid. At first I was deeply afraid, and the sight of the rubble shattered by the bombardment added to that, but as soon as I saw our brothers in Gaza and the joy in their eyes, all my fear vanished.”
Driver Ibrahim El-Esawy (from Mansoura) explains that the drivers pass the long hours playing football or preparing food; some play cards, prepare food or keep busy washing their trucks, and this is how we get past the monotony and boredom.
Driver Hossam Ibrahim sits on the sandy ground in front of the cooking store, “or the kitchen”, looking at the crossing gate. He says: after 6 days next to the crossing, my truck is now in the first row, ready for inspection and crossing, but whatever the hardships, I am performing a humanitarian mission and am ready to wait “until the end of my life”, in his words.
He adds: “From where I am, I can sometimes see clouds of smoke and hear the roar of the Israeli bombardment. The Palestinian drivers say the situation is like Judgement Day; we can do nothing but send aid and pray for them.”
Lower Pay
The number of drivers is no fewer than 350, says Ahmed Abdel Mohsen as he busily washes his truck. He adds: “Our pay is lower than in normal circumstances, but this is not important; rather, it is giving up something very small for the sake of the Palestinian people.”
Next to a truck, drivers sit on the ground to shelter from the sun, which is scorching at some times of the day. Samir Attia says: “Yes… we are tired, but it is fine; the fatigue is bearable for the sake of supporting the Palestinian people.”
Since the start of the war on Gaza, the city of Arish has turned into something like a big garage: trucks stand in every street, not only in front of the crossing, and their density increases on the Ring Road, at the Covered Hall, in Abu Sakl and in front of the governorate headquarters.
As soon as an aid truck enters, it is received by Egyptian Red Crescent workers, who say they have been working day and night without tasting rest since the start of the war.
Driver Ibrahim Saad says the truck’s load is 45 tonnes, but the problem is that entry into the Strip happens “drop by drop”, even though people’s condition calls for speedy procedures, and this slowness is of course deliberate on the part of the Israeli occupation.
Driver Ibrahim Mahsoub agrees with him, saying: if I am allowed to enter Gaza I will not hesitate, and I will not settle for loading the aid for the Palestinian drivers and then returning.
Strict Procedures
Driver Mohamed Sabry Darwish, whose truck crossed some time ago and who is waiting to bring in aid for the second time, says: “The occupation’s inspection procedures are very strict. The first time, I spent a night at the gate on the Egyptian side while my truck was on the Palestinian side, until the inspection procedures were finished. After I entered, the manual inspection was repeated, along with X-ray devices. They did not leave an inch of the truck without digging through it.”
The inspection is carried out by Israeli female soldiers, who open the vehicle and search the driver’s cab, and even water bottles are not spared from their hands. He says: during the truce the flow was relatively faster, but at no time did it meet the needs of the Palestinian people.
Major General Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha, Governor of North Sinai, affirmed that the Egyptian side spares no effort to support relief efforts for Palestinians, explaining that the Red Crescent receives the trucks and their loads are reloaded onto Palestinian Red Crescent trucks in preparation for handing them over to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which distributes them according to the procedures it follows by virtue of its long experience. Meanwhile, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the slowness of the inspection operations, which delays the entry of trucks at an extremely sensitive time, as Palestinians suffer from shortages of food, water, medicine and gas.
Drivers pass through six checkpoints inside Egypt on their way to the crossing, and hundreds of trucks stop along the international road between Arish and Rafah, near the covered sports hall, under police guard.
On 13 December, trucks carrying aid were inspected at the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing before being allowed to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. Inspection now takes place at two sites. On that day, 152 trucks loaded with humanitarian supplies and four tankers carrying fuel entered Gaza from Egypt, according to the United Nations, which commented that the number of trucks exceeds the daily number recorded since the resumption of hostilities on 1 December, but is still far below the daily average of 500 trucks (including fuel trucks) that entered Gaza every working day before 7 October.
Under a system in place since 21 October, aid trucks must undergo inspection at the Al-Awja/Nitzana crossing on Egypt’s border with occupied Palestine, about three kilometres from Rafah. The trucks then head to the Rafah port in a journey covering 100 kilometres before entering the Strip through the Rafah crossing to deliver their loads, a journey that aid workers and Egyptian officials describe as causing bottlenecks.
In the shade of a truck, a group of drivers brought together by the mission of reaching the Rafah crossing sat down to rest, among them Samir Attia from Sharqia governorate and Sayed Khalil from Dakahlia, who stressed that they consider themselves on a different mission, as they have been sitting in front of the Rafah crossing for two days, living inside the trucks with their eyes on the land of Palestine, which they want to reach and deliver aid to sooner rather than later. They all agreed that, as truck drivers numbering more than 350 trucks now standing in front of the Rafah crossing, they are ready to move to reach every inch of Palestine and deliver aid.
Relief trucks of all kinds, parked in many areas of the streets of Arish, especially the Ring Road, the Covered Hall area, Abu Sakl, in front of the governorate headquarters and at the Rafah crossing, were sent to Arish by civil society organisations from all of Egypt’s governorates. The Egyptian Red Crescent receives every convoy arriving in Arish, unloads its cargo, then prepares it again to be transported according to the required specifications, and it takes its route towards the Rafah crossing pending coordination for its entry and the handover of the shipment it carries to the Palestinian Red Crescent in the Gaza Strip.
Driver Ibrahim Saad from Sharqia, who set off with his truck from the city of 10th of Ramadan carrying aid on behalf of the Emirati company, destined for Gaza, said he set off four days ago, reaching the south of Arish, where he stopped at a temporary staging point: “We are carrying food supplies”, various canned goods, noting that the truck’s load is about 45 tonnes.
He added: we live in the truck now, we eat and drink, and sometimes we go to Arish to shop and come back. Driver Ibrahim Saad Mahsoub from 10th of Ramadan joins the conversation, saying: “I set off on an aid trip to Gaza with a load of meat and various quick-to-prepare foods.” He notes that his trip runs from the city of 10th of Ramadan to Arish, and from the Rafah crossing to the Al-Awja crossing and back, and then into Gaza, expressing his great frustration that the distance between the Egyptian and Palestinian gates at the Rafah crossing is about 430 metres, yet relief trucks are forced to undertake a journey of about 100 kilometres going to the Al-Awja crossing and back to Rafah again to be inspected by the Israeli occupation army, and trucks may spend more than 50 hours in front of the “Nitzana” crossing in a kind of deliberate obstruction of aid by the occupation. Driver Tarek Sobhy describes how they hide some prohibited items, such as knives and gas cylinders, by burying them in the sand just before the Egyptian crossing, before heading to the occupation’s checkpoints, and then return and dig them out.
According to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Israeli inspection process has slowed the delivery of badly needed aid to Gaza. The Nitzana border crossing is an international crossing point between Al-Awja, Egypt, and Nitzana, on the occupation side. It was opened in 1982 and is used for the passage of commercial trucks, about 60 kilometres by car from Arish and about 25 kilometres from the Rafah land crossing.
Access to Arish is restricted to residents holding locally issued identity cards. To reach the city, truck drivers must obtain pre-approved permits and pass through six fortified checkpoints. The city is surrounded by a six-metre-high wall built in 2018 and equipped with watchtowers and surveillance cameras. There are three entry and exit points run by the army and police on the eastern, western and southern sides of the city. While the drivers suffer from all these obstacles that drain a great deal of time and effort, they remain steadfast in the face of dangers and obstacles, hoping to continue their missions to reach inside the Strip and deliver relief supplies.
