The number of the Palestinian injured coming from Gaza to Egypt has increased after the cease-fire resolution, Manager of Arish Hospital Mahmoud Chahine said, adding that the hospital receives some 50 cases per day. This number increased yesterday to 72, of whom 49 in the hospital, and 23 in Mubarak military hospital. The Ministry of Health is currently considering how to accommodate this increase. There are proposals to increase the number of beds in the hospital or to transfer cases that have been staying in the hospital for a long period to other hospitals, or to transfer the injured directly from Rafah crossing to Cairo or to use other central hospitals such as Rafah and Sheikh Zuwayed. In a related development, the Syndicate of Journalists' delegation, 39 journalists, demonstrated yesterday before the Rafah border crossing in protest against denying four humanitarian aid trucks access to Gaza on the grounds that the crossing is not dedicated to the entry of trucks of food. For his part, North Sinai Governor Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha said the officials of social affairs in Gaza told him that they are suffering severe food crisis, as wheat and food are enough for two days only although 3752 tons of food were sent to the Gaza Strip since yesterday.
There are some 4,000 tons of food in Arish Port, but there is no time to transport them to Gaza, especially as the Israeli authorities have given a two-day grace for entering the medical aid through Auja commercial crossing that is closed at five PM, Shousha said.
Rafah crossing is only allocated for entering the medical aid. It could not be used for the entry of food aid because it has no waiting areas or machines to transfer goods. Medical aid, which arrived in the Gaza Strip, is enough for six months. Gaza has been provided with some 2931.5 tons of medicine, 56 ambulances and 8574 blood bags, Shousha said, adding that 230 doctors, including 71 Egyptians, have entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
