Malaysia aid enters Gaza hours after Sisi-Ibrahim phone call

Trucks loaded with shipments of aid provided by Malaysia have entered into the besieged Gaza Strip through the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt, hours after a phone call received by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi from Malaysian Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, Arab Post news site reports.

A video showed a number of trucks bearing the logo of the Malaysian Ihsan Society, while the videographer confirmed that the trucks had entered the Rafah Crossing.

Earlier, the Egyptian presidential spokesman, Ahmed Fahmy, said Sisi had praised, in the call with Ibrahim, Malaysia’s keenness to provide relief aid to the people of the Gaza Strip.

Fahmy said the two leaders have stressed the danger of any additional military actions in the Gaza Strip, in reference to the Israeli army’s intention to storm the city of Rafah, where over 2 million Palestinians have sought refuge.

During the call, they also stressed the importance of the international community shouldering its legal, humanitarian and political responsibilities to seriously push for an immediate ceasefire and activate the two-state solution, to avoid regional spill-over.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, has recently accused Israel of seeking to collectively punish the Palestinians by starving them, and warned that the level of hunger that Gaza is currently witnessing is “unprecedented” and constitutes “genocide”.

The UN Rapporteur said he cannot describe how difficult the inhumane situation in the Gaza Strip is.

“We used to say before that famine was on the verge, now I would not be surprised if we said that famine will be comprehensive by the end of this month (February),” he added, explaining that “no one knows how long the people of Gaza can withstand this situation, as the aid reaching them is insufficient to keep them alive”.

“Even if a ceasefire were reached today, hunger would negatively affect the future of more than a million children living in Gaza. Of these, 335,000 children under the age of five are at risk of permanent physical injuries, including cognitive impairment,” he added.

He pointed out that Israel’s starvation policy extends beyond preventing access of humanitarian aid, and includes implementing policies aimed at destroying the Strip’s food system which hinders the Palestinians’ ability to feed themselves.

Since 7 October, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip that has left tens of thousands of victims, most of them children and women, according to Palestinian and UN data.

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