Food aid and medical supplies are currently blocked by Israel

Photo Essay by IHSAAN HAFFEJEE

About 200 people demonstrated outside the Egyptian embassy in Pretoria on Monday, April 28, demanding that Egypt open the Rafah border for aid to be delivered to Gaza.

Israel has blocked all food, aid and medical supplies from entering the Gaza strip from Israel and Egypt. The blockade is currently being contested at the International Court of Justice. Last week the World Food Programme (WFP) released a statement saying that it had depleted all its food stocks for families in Gaza, with thousands of tonnes of food stuck at aid corridors.

‘Food prices have skyrocketed up to 1,400 percent compared to during the ceasefire, and essential food commodities are in short supply raising serious nutrition concerns for vulnerable populations, including children under five, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and the elderly,’ the WFP said.

Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, was accused by Monday’s protesters of actively contributing to the crisis in Gaza by blocking aid and charging exorbitant prices for aid trucks to enter Gaza.

Some reports suggest that aid trucks are charged around $5 000 to enter Gaza with commercial trucks being charged $20 000. Some Egyptians have also been accused of profiteering from the evacuation of Palestinians from Gaza.

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Ahmad Gamal, a member of the Egyptian community who participated in the protest, said he was ashamed of the actions of the Egyptian government.

‘The people of Gaza are not only our neighbours, they are our family. We are demanding the opening of the Rafah crossing so the aid trucks can enter Gaza,’ said Gamal.

Naazim Adam from the Palestine Solidarity Alliance said that the protest was directed against the Egyptian government and not its people.

‘The protest today is a call on the Egyptian regime to stop being complicit in the starvation and genocide that is happening in Gaza,’ said Adam.

Protesters carried empty cardboard boxes symbolising the goods blocked from entering Gaza and placed them outside the embassy entrance. A memorandum of demands urging Egypt to facilitate the entry of aid into Gaza was handed over to the deputy ambassador.

‘Egypt is bound by the Genocide Convention, Geneva Conventions, and customary international humanitarian law. Fulfilling these duties is not only a legal requirement, but a test of moral consistency—especially for a nation with a proud legacy of anti-colonial solidarity,’ read the memorandum.

• This article was first published by https://groundup.org.za/