U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday (October 15) that the Egyptian-controlled border crossing into Gaza would reopen and the U.S. was working with Egypt, Israel and the United Nations to get assistance through it.
Hundreds of metric tons of aid from several countries have been held up in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula for days pending a deal for its safe delivery to Gaza and the evacuation of some foreign passport holders through the Rafah crossing.
Egypt said it had stepped up diplomatic efforts to break the impasse.
Israel has urged exhausted Gazans to evacuate south ahead of its expected ground invasion, which hundreds of thousands have already done in the besieged enclave that is home to more than 2 million people. Hamas, which runs Gaza, has told people to ignore Israel’s message.
(Inputs from Reuters)