'We have the food, and we cannot deliver it,' says aid worker at Egypt-Gaza border
Workers with trucks of aid and supplies wait in frustration on the Egyptian side of Rafah crossing
Mohsen Sarhan has spent the last week camped outside the Rafah crossing in northeast Egypt, waiting to deliver food and medicine to Gazans on the other side.
Sarhan is the CEO of the Egyptian Food Bank, one of many humanitarian organizations trying to deliver aid to Gazans through Rafah, the only entry point to Gaza that's not controlled by Israel.
About 2.3 million people live in Gaza, a narrow strip of land that has been under a complete siege and heavy bombardment by Israel for the last two weeks.
About 4,137 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 1,500 children, according to Gazan officials. Half the population has been made homeless, and an estimated 13,000 homes have been completely destroyed, according to the United Nations.
Israel says the siege and airstrikes are in retaliation for an attack against Israel on Oct. 7 by Hamas, the militant organization that controls Gaza. More than 1,400 people were killed, and more than 200 taken hostage, in the attack.
Israel says it won't lift its blockade unless Israeli hostages are freed. Two hostages, a U.S. mother and daughter, were freed on Friday after Qatari mediation efforts. Hamas says 20 hostages have been killed by Israeli airstrikes. Those claims have not been verified.
As human rights organizations call for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza, Israel says it will allow aid through Rafah. But it warned the supplies could only go to civilians and that it would "thwart" any diversions by Hamas.
Still, hundreds of trucks full of supplies remain stuck on the Egyptian side due to a damaged road and continued bombing on the Gazan side.
Here is an excerpt of Sarhan's conversation with As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
Can you tell me what you saw at the Rafah crossing earlier today?
Today, there were thousands of people with all the trucks, around 200 trucks.
We, as aid workers, we have been sleeping with the trucks. I'm the CEO of the Egyptian Food Bank. I shouldn't be here. There are no jobs for me. My people here are more than capable of doing everything, but I came just for solidarity.
I've been here for seven or eight days and I'm watching people being bombed on the other side.
We're watching all this and we have the food — and we cannot deliver it.
Egypt, as you know, blames those Israeli airstrikes for keeping the border from opening. The UN's humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, told BBC that Egypt is reluctant to allow the crossing to open because they're worried about an influx of Palestinian refugees. So do you feel that the Egyptian government shares some of the blame for the delay in opening the crossing?
They share zero of the blame.
We are not crossing through the crossing because we will die.... The Egyptian authorities do not want us to pass because we will be killed. That's it.
Canadian officials, as they've announced aid for Gaza and for the Palestinian people, they've always made sure to say that they will make sure aid will not get into the hands of Hamas. So what do you say to people who are listening and are concerned that Hamas may intercept the aid that is meant for innocent civilians?
This is insanity and this is exactly what Israel is doing to prevent aid from going.
How would I know? I have four or five people standing in front of me, and they are all starving. How would I know if one of them is Hamas or not?
How should [Israel] respond, do you think, when what has happened in their country — Hamas militants have taken hostages and killed people — and they say they need to retaliate?
I'm an aid worker. I cannot comment on such a political level. But I will speak on a very micro level. If someone does something to me, I have to retaliate with the same amount of force.
What's happening now is way beyond self-defence.
From the people you've spoken to, the Palestinians in Gaza, what are they telling you about what they need and how long they can keep going like this?
The priority, the absolute priority, is anesthetics. Because imagine this, that someone [is] doing surgery ... without anesthetics. It's another crime against humanity.
They need antibiotics because the wounds get infected after the surgeries and people die because they don't have antibiotics.
They need equipment to get to their dead from the rubble of buildings … because now they cannot keep up with the deaths, so they just leave people under the rubble.
I can hear frustration in your voice.
I'm very frustrated. Very frustrated because I can see people dying in front of me — and I have the medicine, and I cannot give it to them.
There is nothing I can do except I'm trying to speak up and I'm trying to make the world understand that this is an asymmetric warfare. This is an asymmetric warfare in information, in messaging, in context, in everything.
Hamas ... killed many Israelis, and the whole world is mourning. The answer is not wiping out the [Gazan] population. Because there will be a million orphans that will repeat a million Hamases, and the world will pay that price for decades to come.
With files from Reuters. Interview produced by Chris Harbord. Edited for length and clarity
