CAIRO: An Egyptian aid convoy heading to Gaza was still stuck in front of the Red Crescent headquarters in Al-Arish by Tuesday evening.
Sources in the area told Daily News Egypt that the convoy had still not moved because Israel was reluctant to open the Karem Abu Salem crossing – used for transport of cargo – due to continued rocket fire.
The convoy is comprised of five trucks carrying 60 tons of wheat, sugar and medical supplies for people in Gaza who have been living under a blockade for over a year and a half.
The Rafah border crossing was temporarily opened in the early hours of Tuesday to allow 166 Palestinians who had been performing the pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia to return to Gaza. It was closed again right after the pilgrims went through.
Although a six-month truce mediated by Egypt between Hamas and Israel ended last Friday, there are intentions to negotiate a new truce. There was a special 24-hour truce instituted to allow the aid to pass but the convoy remained in Al-Arish regardless.
“We asked both parties to create a suitable atmosphere to allow an Egyptian humanitarian convoy from the Egyptian Red Crescent to enter Gaza in security, foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told AFP, “the two parties dealt with the Egyptian request in a positive manner.
Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha had said that factions in Gaza had agreed to “a calm for a 24-hour period following Egyptian mediation in exchange for the delivery of aid from Egypt.
Violence broke out right after the truce expired and Israeli attacks on Gaza have already begun, as Egypt again looks to extend the truce.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was in Egypt Tuesday holding talks with President Hosni Mubarak about negotiating a new truce with Israel.
Abbas also said that he had agreed to an Egyptian proposal to restart talks of a new unity government with Hamas.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is expected in Egypt on Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials at Mubarak’s invitation.
However, AP reported that there is currently an Israeli diplomatic push to prepare for a possible ground offensive on the Gaza strip, although Hamas has already indicated its willingness to accept another truce.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said of the diplomatic offensive, “People abroad perhaps do not understand the real distress of Israelis in the south who live with the rocket threat. Then you wake up in the morning with an Israeli response, and you don t understand where it came from.
Yet a source near the border with contacts in Gaza said that an Israeli ground offensive was unlikely and that talk of such a thing was little more than political posturing ahead of the Israeli elections in February.
Israeli ground offensives into Gaza have never been successful in halting rocket firing in the past.
