In photos: Hundreds of trucks deliver aid from Egypt to Gaza as ceasefire holds
Gaza-bound trucks carrying water, medicine, food, fuel and other essentials wait at the Rafah crossing’s main gates on Jan. 19, 2025. U.N. officials say 80% of Gazans live in poverty after 15 months of Israeli bombardments and restrictions.
Trucks travel deliver aid in Rafah, Egypt. The first six weeks of the three-phase deal permit up to 600 truckloads of aid daily into Gaza, the prewar level of basic-needs support for survival, after averaging just 40 to 50 per day in recent months.
Egypt says the Rafah crossing reopened to 330 aid trucks and 20 fuel trucks on Jan. 19, 2025. In May, Israel seized the Gaza side of the corridor as part of its offensive on Rafah city that severed the Strip’s lifeline to Egypt and the world.
Abu Sanad, a team leader from the Egyptian-owned Organi Group, oversees crossings via Rafah to Gaza. “We prepare the trucks in coordination with the Israelis,” he says. “Today, they allowed everyone on the list through.”
Mostafa, an Egyptian truck driver transporting life-sustaining chickpea shipments, says in Rafah, “I’ve been waiting to enter Gaza for a month. But, today (Jan. 19), I received good news: I’m on the list of trucks entering tomorrow.”
Egyptian paramedics Bahgat, left, and Hany haven’t treated war wounds since Israel shut the Rafah crossing in Gaza in May. “There aren’t signs of casualties coming to Egypt today, but we must stay ready,” says Bahgat.
Ahmed, an Egyptian aid truck driver, has been waiting 45 days to enter Gaza. Rafah’s reopening was delayed by a few hours Sunday due to a last-minute dispute between Hamas and Israel, who “continued shooting until 10:30 a.m.,” Ahmed says.
Egyptian truck driver Ali, pictured in Rafah on Jan. 19, 2025, hauled bread to the Rafah crossing in May but met long wait times, so the donor said to "take the aid to a charity for Egypt’s poor.” The majority of Egyptians live in poverty or are vulnerable.
Omar, an Egyptian truck driver carrying diesel for fuel-deprived Gazans, says, “This time, we waited five days to cross Rafah — it used to be up to 30. We may wait forever, but we need peace for the people of Gaza.”
A truck enters Egypt’s Rafah crossing. The estimated death toll from Israel's war on Gaza is 47,000, more than half of them women and children, with 110,000 wounded, thousands missing, and nine in 10 (or 1.9 million) displaced, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry.