Turkey sends aid to Gaza, convoy enters Rafah crossing from Egypt

Deliveries of aid through Rafah began on Saturday after wrangling over procedures for inspecting the aid and bombardments on the Gaza side of the border had left relief materials stranded in Egypt.

 Egyptian Red Crescent members and volunteers gather next to a truck carrying humanitarian aid as it drives through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt October 22, 2023 (photo credit: REUTERS/STRINGER)
Egyptian Red Crescent members and volunteers gather next to a truck carrying humanitarian aid as it drives through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt October 22, 2023
(photo credit: REUTERS/STRINGER)

A third convoy of aid trucks entered the Rafah crossing from Egypt on Monday bound for the besieged Gaza Strip, an aid worker and two security sources said.

Deliveries of aid through Rafah began on Saturday after wrangling over procedures for inspecting the aid and bombardments on the Gaza side of the border had left relief materials stranded in Egypt.

Turkey sends two more planes of aid to Egypt for Gaza, plans more

Turkey sent two cargo planes to Egypt on Monday carrying medical equipment and supplies for Gaza, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, adding two more aircraft would be sent with more supplies.

Earlier this month, Turkey sent three aircraft carrying aid for Gaza. On Sunday, it also sent a medical team and supplies to Egypt, saying Ankara was ready to treat wounded Palestinians in Turkey, if needed, and to set up a field hospital at Egypt's El Arish Airport and Rafah border crossing.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Koca said the cargo planes carried medicine, generators, medical supplies, incubators for babies, phototherapy machinery, diapers and baby food.

Among the medical supplies, he said, were emergency response equipment, operating tables, ventilators, ultrasound machines and orthopedic supplies for those wounded in the fighting.

"The four planes of health support that are being planned for Gaza as aid will be sent from Egypt to Gaza via highways."