HUMANITARIAN AID ENTERS GAZA AS EGYPT OPENS BORDER CROSSING

THE border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened on Saturday to let a trickle of desperately needed aid into the besieged Palestinian territory for the first time since Israel sealed it off in the wake of Hamas’ bloody rampage two weeks ago.

Just 20 trucks were allowed in, an amount aid workers said was insufficient to address the unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

More than 200 trucks carrying 3,000 tons of aid have been waiting nearby for days.

Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, half of whom have fled their homes, are rationing food and drinking dirty water. Hospitals say they are running low on medical supplies and fuel for emergency generators amid a territory-wide power blackout. Israel is still launching waves of airstrikes across Gaza as Palestinian militants fire rocket barrages into Israel.

The opening came after more than a week of high-level diplomacy by various mediators, including visits to the region by President Biden and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Israel had insisted that nothing would enter Gaza until some 200 people captured by Hamas were freed, and the Palestinian side of the crossing had been shut down by Israeli airstrikes.

The trucks carried 44,000 bottles of drinking water — enough for 22,000 people for a single day, according to UNICEF.

“This first, limited water will save lives, but the needs are immediate and immense,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

“This first, limited water will save lives, but the needs are immediate and immense,” Russell said.

However, no U.S. citizens or other foreign nationals who have been stranded in Gaza since the war began were allowed to cross into Egypt. U.S. passport holder Leila Bsiso, who is among hundreds of Americans who have been stranded at the Gaza-Egypt border for weeks, said she and her family feel abandoned by Mr. Biden.

“For America to do this to us, a strongest country, to leave their citizens here and not help them, that’s a big problem,” Bsiso told CBS News. “They should have done, like the (most) possible to get us out of here.”

Mr. Biden said in a statement the United States “remains committed to ensuring that civilians in Gaza will continue to have access to food, water, medical care, and other assistance, without diversion by Hamas.”

The U.S. government would work to keep Rafah open and let U.S. citizens leave Gaza, he said.

The death toll has now reached 4,385 — including 1,756 children and 967 women — in addition to 13,561 injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza during a news conference on Saturday. Seventy percent of the casualties are women, children and and elderly people, the ministry spokesperson said.

In Israel, there have been more than 1,400 deaths and 3,500 wounded, according to the Government Press Office. A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that 307 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Oct. 7.

U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement on Saturday supporting the arrival of relief, saying “We urge all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open to enable the continued movement of aid that is imperative to the welfare of the people of Gaza.”

“The United States welcomes the delivery of a 20-truck convoy carrying much needed humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza, the first since Hamas’s horrific October 7 terrorist attack on Israel,” the statement read.

“We thank our partners in Egypt and Israel, and the United Nations, for facilitating the safe passage of these shipments through the Rafah border crossing. With this convoy, the international community is beginning to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza that has left residents of Gaza without access to sufficient food, water, medical care, and safe shelter.”

Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the opening of Rafah, calling it “an important first step that will alleviate the suffering of innocent people.”

The World Health Organization said four of the 20 trucks that crossed through Rafah on Saturday were carrying medical supplies, including medicines for the treatment of chronic diseases for 1,500 people, essential supplies for 300,000 people for three months, trauma medicine and supplies for 1,200 people and 235 portable trauma bags for first responders.

The World Food Program said it has another 930 metric tons of emergency food waiting to be brought in through Rafah. It said it needs to replenish its “rapidly diminishing supplies” as it expands food assistance from 520,000 people to 1.1 million in the next two months.

The U.N. said life-saving supplies would be delivered to the Palestinian Red Crescent medical service. But Cindy McCain, the head of the U.N.’s World Food Program, said the aid was insufficient. (CBS NEWS)