President Sisi Talks with Joe Biden on the Phone, Rafah will be Opened for Sending Humanitarian Aid to Gaza

JAKARTA - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and US President Joe Biden discussed ways to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza via the Rafah border crossing, in a telephone conversation on Wednesday, the Egyptian Presidency said in a statement.

"The discussions between the two leaders focused on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and ways to facilitate the implementation of humanitarian assistance," said the statement, reported by CNN, October 19.

"The conversation between President El-Sisi and the President of the United States witnessed an agreement to introduce humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip through the Raffah crossing on a sustainable basis," the statement continued.

"President Biden expressed his thanks and appreciation for the efforts of the Egyptian leadership in achieving peace and stability in the region," said an Egyptian statement.

Meanwhile, President Biden, on his way back to the United States, told reporters on Air Force One that President Sisi agreed to allow 20 trucks to pass through the main crossing.

President Biden also said that the road to Gaza must be repaired and potholes must be filled before trucks pass through. He estimated it would take around eight hours on Thursday, with the truck expected to be able to pass until Friday.

The crossing will be open only to receive aid, not for evacuation, President Biden said.

The Egyptian statement said officials in both countries were coordinating with international humanitarian organizations, overseen by the United Nations, to deliver aid.

President Sisi previously said that Rafah was never technically closed, but could not be operationalized due to attacks by Israel.

It is known that previously President Biden said that Israel had agreed that humanitarian aid could enter Gaza via Egypt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that but said his party would not allow supplies into the enclave from its own territory until Hamas freed all the hostages.

As previously reported, trucks carrying humanitarian aid were stuck at the Rafah crossing, the border between Gaza and Egypt, a condition that was regretted by WHO Head Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in his post on X, said aid was delayed for four days.

"Every second we wait for medical aid to come in, we lose lives," he said as quoted on the UN website.

Meanwhile, UN Humanitarian Aid Chief Martin Griffiths in his post on X said that providing aid to the people of Gaza was "a matter of life or death".

"Doing this in a sustainable, seamless, and predictable manner is a humanitarian imperative," he added.

It said food, water, essential medicines and health supplies were running low in the enclave, where more than a quarter of the population had been forced to flee since the start of the conflict.

Separately, Head of the UN Palestine Refugee Agency Philippe Lazzarini said in an emergency meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), "An unprecedented disaster is happening before our eyes."

"Gaza is being strangled and the world seems to be losing its humanity," he said.