Massed near the Rafah terminal, the Gaza Strip's only opening to the outside world, hundreds of Palestinians have been waiting for several days to reach Egypt. On the other side of the border, aid shipments are piling up in Sinai, waiting for the green light to enter the besieged enclave. On the morning of Tuesday, October 16, the aid convoys were ordered to head for the crossing point, while negotiations continued under the aegis of the United Nations. With American support, Egypt and Israel are trying to reach an agreement on the opening of Rafah.
After his visit to Cairo on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed confidence that the 500 foreign nationals and dual nationals in Gaza would soon be evacuated, and that humanitarian aid would enter the Palestinian enclave. According to several sources, an agreement had been reached to open the border at 9 am on Monday. The Israeli army had indicated that it would "refrain" from striking the evacuation corridors for several hours. At the time of writing, however, no movement had been reported at the Rafah crossing.
"There is no ceasefire and no entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza," said the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday morning. Hamas said it had not been "officially informed by any party of the opening of the Rafah terminal." At a press conference attended by his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Choukri laid the blame for the closure of the Rafah terminal on Israel, which "has not given any signal so far." A few hours later, Israeli aircraft bombed the area – for the fourth time in a week – hitting the road separating the Egyptian and Palestinian terminals, without causing any casualties.
"Those who want to leave Gaza must be able to do so," Colonna pleaded, once again, from Beirut later in the day. "We ask everyone to open crossing points," she continued, refusing to name those responsible. According to Colonna, "just over a hundred" French nationals are currently in the south of the enclave, waiting to get out.
Diplomatic efforts continue. On Monday, US President Joe Biden expressed the hope that humanitarian aid could be delivered to the Palestinian territory "as soon as possible" but "in a way that does not benefit Hamas." According to Blinken, Israel has agreed to the principle of safe zones in the Gaza Strip, which will be spared bombardment by the Israeli army, in order to allow aid to be delivered.
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