Rafah/Arish (dpa)- Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has expressed her distress at the humanitarian plight of the people in the Gaza Strip and urgently called for better access to medical and humanitarian aid. There must “now be an urgent response to this medical disaster,” Baerbock said in the Egyptian city of Arish after visiting the border with the Gaza Strip. “Those hospitals that still remain in Gaza must be able to function.”
After three months of war, 13 of the Gaza Strip’s 36 hospitals are still operating to some extent. Palestinians who cannot be treated there must be taken to places like the hospital in Arish, said Baerbock. She also said that aid organisations need better access. 3,000 trucks laden with aid supplies are apparently stuck outside Rafah, ready to transport the aid to 1.9 million people just a few kilometres away in the Gaza Strip. “These trucks cannot spend any longer waiting for days in this bottleneck here in Rafah. We need a border crossing that can operate around the clock here.”
The foreign minister handed over nearly ten tons of aid supplies to the Egyptian Red Crescent, including sleeping mats, blankets, children’s sleeping bags and camp beds. The lion’s share of aid shipments to Gaza passes through Rafah.