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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Friday to oversee preparations for the delivery of aid to the war-torn enclave.
Cargo planes and trucks have been bringing humanitarian aid to Rafah for days, but so far none has been delivered to Gaza Strip, which Israel has besieged and bombed for 13 days.
Rafah is the only crossing into the blockaded Palestinian territory that is not controlled by Israel, which agreed to allow aid to enter after a request from its ally the United States.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on Friday that the first aid delivery via the Rafah crossing should take place “in the next days or so”.
Guterres said there was an “absolute need to have these trucks moving as soon as possible and as many as necessary”; “this must be a sustained effort”.
