50 fuel trucks to enter Gaza per day after ceasefire: Egypt

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said 50 fuel trucks are set to enter the Gaza Strip when the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas starts on Sunday.

Abdelatty, whose country mediated the deal with Qatar and the United States, said it provides for “the entry of 600 trucks per day to the Strip, including 50 trucks of fuel.”

The truce between Israel and Hamas is set to take effect at 8:30 am (0630 GMT) on Sunday, bringing with it a surge of aid, according to mediators.

Hundreds of trucks have lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing — previously a vital entry point for aid that has been closed since May, when Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side.

At a joint news conference on Saturday with his Nigerian counterpart, Abdelatty said: “We hope that 300 trucks will go to the north of the Gaza Strip,” where thousands are trapped in what aid agencies say are apocalyptic conditions.

Humanitarian workers have warned of the monumental challenges that could impede aid operations — including the destruction of infrastructure that previously processed shipments.

The war in the Gaza Strip was sparked by Hamas’s Oct.7, 2023 attack on Israel.

By Dec.1, nearly 69 per cent of the Palestinian territory’s buildings had been destroyed or damaged, according to the United Nations.

Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once, with many of them hoping to return to the north if the truce holds.

Israel on Saturday approved a ceasefire deal with Hamas that involves release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli forces bombed the tiny enclave ahead of the agreement’s scheduled start on Sunday.

The agreement is set to halt a 15-month-old war between Israel and Gaza’s rulers Hamas that has decimated the Strip, killed nearly 47,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis, and destabilised the Middle East.

Early on Saturday, after meeting for more than six hours, the Israeli cabinet ratified the US-brokered ceasefire deal which is meant to stop fighting and see the release over several weeks of dozens of hostages held by Hamas in return for scores of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

“The Government has approved the framework for the return of the hostages. The framework for the hostages’ release will come into effect on Sunday,” Netanyahu’s office said in a brief statement.

In Gaza, Israeli warplanes have kept up heavy attacks since the deal was agreed, and continued to pound the territory on Saturday.

Israeli tanks shelled the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City and airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza, residents said. Medics in Gaza said five people were killed in an airstrike that hit a tent in the Mawasi area, west of the city of Khan Younis.

At least 123 Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli bombardment since the ceasefire deal was announced on Wednesday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said.

The Israeli military said it had carried out strikes on 50 targets across the Gaza Strip on Friday and did not immediately respond to questions about its actions on Saturday.

Sirens sounded in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Saturday. The military said it had shot down a missile fired from Yemen and made no mention of any casualties.

The Houthi group, which controls large parts of Yemen, indicated they would launch attacks on Israel should it “violate” the ceasefire.

It is not clear whether the end of fighting in Gaza would help calm wider regional tensions. If successful, some observers say, it could ease hostilities elsewhere in the Middle East.

The White House expects three female hostages to be released to Israel in the afternoon through the Red Cross.

Under the deal, the three-stage ceasefire starts with an initial six-week phase when hostages held by Hamas will be exchanged for prisoners and detainees jailed in Israel.

Thirty-three of the 98 remaining Israeli hostages, including women, children, men over 50 and ill and wounded captives, are to be freed in this phase. In return, Israel will release almost 2,000 Palestinians from its jails.

Agencies