Rafah, October 20(Press Ki Taquat)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Rafah border crossing on Friday and said aid trucks needed to move as quickly as possible from Egypt into the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza to alleviate a humanitarian crisis.
The crossing has become a focus of attention since Israel began its bombing of Gaza in retaliation for a deadly assault by the Hamas militant group on southern Israel on October 7. Gaza is running short of fuel, food, water and medicine but the Egyptian-controlled border has remained shut while various parties wrangle over terms for allowing aid to flow in.
Guterres flew to Egypt on Friday in a push to get the trucks moving. “We are now actively engaging with all the parties — Egypt, Israel, US…” he said. Meanwhile, the White House asked the Congress for nearly $106 billion to fund ambitious plans for Ukraine, Israel and US border security, but offered no strategy for securing the money from a broken Congress.
Amid increasing anti-US protests and potential terrorist attacks, the US has issued a worldwide caution for Americans travelling overseas.
In a rare move, the Egyptian government approved and even helped organise 27 locations for protesters to gather on Friday.
In Turkiye where the government has declared three days of mourning in solidarity with the victims of a blast at a Gaza hospital, thousands of people staged protests outside mosques in Ankara.
In Malaysia, some 1,000 Muslims marched along a busy thoroughfare in Kuala Lumpur.
In Indonesia’s capital, demonstrators marched from several mosques to the heavily guarded US Embassy in Jakarta to denounce American support for Israel.
In South Korea’s capital, dozens of protesters chanted slogans, waved Palestinian flags and raised anti-Israel banners. — Agencies
