The United States is calling on Israel, Egypt, and Hamas to provide protection for Gaza civilians as well as safe passage for them into Egypt as the IDF continues to carry out air strikes into the Gaza Strip.
“We stand for the rule of law. We stand for the law of war,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN on Sunday, per The Jerusalem Post.
“We stand for the protection of civilians, and we want to make sure that innocent Palestinians who have nothing to do with Hamas can get to safe areas... where they will have access to necessities like food, water, shelter, and medicine,” he said.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the Egyptian-controlled border crossing, known as the Rafah crossing, into Gaza would reopen.
“We have put in place, and Egypt has put in place a lot of material support for people in Gaza, and Rafah will be reopened,” Blinken told reporters in Cairo following his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
“We are putting into place – with the United Nations, with Egypt, with Israel, with others – the mechanism by which to get the assistance in and to get it to the people who need it,” he continued.
According to BBC News, the Rafah Crossing is the southernmost exit from Gaza, bordered by Egypt’s Sinai desert. It is one of three border crossings from and into the Gaza Strip, with the other two being Erez, a border crossing with Israel in north Gaza, and Kerem Shalom, a solely commercial junction between Israel and Gaza.
The latter two crossings have since been shut following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, in which 1,300 civilians and soldiers were killed, and more than 150 people were taken hostage, including Americans. In response, Israel has cut off electricity, fuel, food, and water to Gaza and is preparing to launch a ground offensive against Hamas.
When it comes to passing through the Rafa crossings from Gaza, Palestinians typically have to register with the local Palestinian authorities two to four weeks in advance and could face rejection from either the Palestinian or Egyptian authorities without warning or explanation.
In August 2023, Egyptian authorities allowed 19,608 people to exit from Gaza, while 314 were denied entry.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 2,000 patients are being treated in the 22 hospitals located in northern Gaza. Due to the hospitals in southern Gaza that have reached over-capacity, an evacuation to the south “could be tantamount to a death sentence.”
In the past nine days, almost 2,700 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by the violent exchange between IDF and Hamas.
Photo Courtesy: ©Getty Images/Mahmoud Khaled / Stringer
Video Courtesy: New York Post via YouTube
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
