in-cyprus 16 October 2023 - by gavriella
Egypt, Israel and the U.S. agreed to a ceasefire in southern Gaza to begin at 0600 GMT coinciding with the re-opening of the Rafah border crossing, two Egyptian security sources said on Monday.
The sources said the ceasefire would last for several hours but were not clear on the exact duration. They also said the three countries had agreed that Rafah would be open until 1400 GMT on Monday as a one-day initial re-opening.
Asked for confirmation, the Israeli military and the U.S. Embassy in Israel had no immediate comment. This was not immediately confirmed by officials with Gaza’s governing Hamas either.
(Reuters)
NOTE - Despite the alleged agreed ceasefire, it appears that the border crossing has not been opened as expected.
BBC News - early afternoon 16/10
On the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing there are long lines of lorries waiting with hundreds of tonnes of desperately needed aid - while on the Gaza side, there are crowds of Palestinians with foreign passports, hoping to leave.
Reports of the border opening have proven to be premature.
Instead, only about 150,000 litres of fuel have been transferred from Egypt - a local official told me - to run water and sewage pumping stations in Gaza.
UN officials warn of “an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.
They say hospitals are set to run out of fuel within a day endangering the lives of thousands of sick and wounded people.
