Vast amounts of aid for Gaza that had been stuck in Egypt has been loaded on to trucks that are aiming to enter the Gaza Strip during the four-day temporary truce, residents and officials told The National.
International aid agencies have been stockpiling supplies in the Egyptian city of Al Arish, 45 kilometres from the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7.
Israel had only let limited amounts of aid into Gaza since the war began, but agreed to an increase as part of a four-day truce that began on Friday.
The UN confirmed that 139 trucks had taken aid into the enclave on Friday, its largest daily delivery since October 7. Separately, the Egyptian Red Crescent said 83 trucks had entered Gaza on the same day, while Egyptian authorities said 15 trucks entered with equipment for the Jordanian field hospital and another 11 for the Emirati field hospital.
The stream of aid continued on Saturday, with tens of trucks, including seven carrying fuel supplies, entering in the morning, an official stationed at the crossing told The National.
The aid that has made it into Gaza is a fraction of the total collected on the Egyptian border.
On Saturday, lorries laden with supplies for Gaza could be seen parked in almost every large garage in Al Arish and in long lines on the city’s streets.
The roads leading into North Sinai from other Egyptian provinces were similarly congested with long queues of aid lorries, which were also lined up in towns neighbouring Al Arish, including Sheikh Zuweid and Beir Al Abd, residents told The National.
“There are trucks everywhere you look. Inside the cities and outside the cities. There are long lines of trucks on most of the roads coming into North Sinai and some have piled up as far back as Ismailia,” one Sheikh Zuweid resident said.
Aid being sent to the city has risen since Wednesday in anticipation of the increase in deliveries due to the temporary truce. It has arrived by road inside Egypt and by air to Al Arish airport from around the world.
The city faced a severe storage crisis in October after the arrival of tens of thousands of tonnes of aid.
Because only small amounts of aid were being allowed into Gaza, the rest was stored in Al Arish’s football stadium, the city’s granary and several schools and sports courts.
However, deliveries increased from less than 20 trucks per day when humanitarian corridors first opened on October 21 to around 100 per day in the week or so before the truce was agreed.
Humanitarian organisations have said that Gaza needs at least 100 aid lorries daily to meet the basic needs of its 2.3 million people.
“When deliveries began to increase earlier this month, we started to unload some planeloads directly on to trucks and didn’t take them to storage,” a Red Crescent official said.
Though the city’s storage units are now almost half empty, most of that aid has not yet entered Gaza but remains on the backs of the hundreds of lorries parked all over North Sinai.
“The majority of the aid that has arrived in Egypt since the start of the war remains on the Egyptian side.
“The difference from the start of the war is that instead of being in storage, it has been loaded on to trucks hoping to make their deliveries during the four days that the Rafah crossing is open,” the official said.
The crossing, the only entry point into Gaza not directly controlled by Israel, also received 17 wounded Gazans on Friday who have since then been admitted to hospitals in North Sinai.
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
CHINESE GRAND PRIX STARTING GRID
1st row
Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
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Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes-GP)
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Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
arcus Ericsson (Sauber)
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Director: Lana Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick
Rating:****
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
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Shower or bath after being outside.
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Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Six things you need to know about UAE Women’s Special Olympics football team
Several girls started playing football at age four
They describe sport as their passion
The girls don’t dwell on their condition
They just say they may need to work a little harder than others
When not in training, they play football with their brothers and sisters
The girls want to inspire others to join the UAE Special Olympics teams
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Gothia Cup 2025
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76 nations
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The Facility’s Versatility
Between the start of the 2020 IPL on September 20, and the end of the Pakistan Super League this coming Thursday, the Zayed Cricket Stadium has had an unprecedented amount of traffic.
Never before has a ground in this country – or perhaps anywhere in the world – had such a volume of major-match cricket.
And yet scoring has remained high, and Abu Dhabi has seen some classic encounters in every format of the game.
October 18, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders tied with Sunrisers Hyderabad
The two playoff-chasing sides put on 163 apiece, before Kolkata went on to win the Super Over
January 8, ODI, UAE beat Ireland by six wickets
A century by CP Rizwan underpinned one of UAE’s greatest ever wins, as they chased 270 to win with an over to spare
February 6, T10, Northern Warriors beat Delhi Bulls by eight wickets
The final of the T10 was chiefly memorable for a ferocious over of fast bowling from Fidel Edwards to Nicholas Pooran
March 14, Test, Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by six wickets
Eleven wickets for Rashid Khan, 1,305 runs scored in five days, and a last session finish
June 17, PSL, Islamabad United beat Peshawar Zalmi by 15 runs
Usman Khawaja scored a hundred as Islamabad posted the highest score ever by a Pakistan team in T20 cricket
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Ms Al Ameri likes the variety of her job, and the daily environmental challenges she is presented with.
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She loves to explore new destinations and lives by her motto of being a voice in the world, and not an echo.
She is the youngest of three children, and has a brother and sister.
Her favourite book, Moby Dick by Herman Melville helped inspire her towards a career exploring the natural world.
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
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Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
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Two stars
Ahmed Raza
UAE cricket captain
Age: 31
Born: Sharjah
Role: Left-arm spinner
One-day internationals: 31 matches, 35 wickets, average 31.4, economy rate 3.95
T20 internationals: 41 matches, 29 wickets, average 30.3, economy rate 6.28
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- set out well ahead of time
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Results
Final: Iran beat Spain 6-3.
Play-off 3rd: UAE beat Russia 2-1 (in extra time).
Play-off 5th: Japan beat Egypt 7-2.
Play-off 7th: Italy beat Mexico 3-2.
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