After Months of Waiting, Joy for Drivers Entering Gaza to Deliver Aid

An impressive line of semi-trailers loaded with goods wrapped in white tarpaulins slowly crossed the armored gates of the Rafah border crossing on Sunday, aiming to reach the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a relentless barrage of Israeli fire for fifteen months.

The drivers have been waiting for permission to access this Palestinian territory, plagued by famine, to deliver food, medical aid, and fuel after passing through Israeli checkpoints at Nitzana and Kerem Shalom.

They have not returned home for months to avoid having their cargo stolen, as they are tasked with distributing supplies in this besieged territory, where 2.4 million residents lived before October 7, 2023.

On that day, Hamas launched a large-scale military operation that resulted in the deaths of 1,210 Israeli civilians and military personnel. The response was swift and devastating, leading to significant destruction and nearly 47,000 deaths, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas government.

Those returning are signaling victory and honking their horns loudly to express their satisfaction at having fulfilled their mission.

“For months, we have been eating, sleeping, and showering in our trucks, waiting for the moment we would be told we could enter,” said Essam Dessouky, a hefty truck driver from al-Mahalla al-Koubra in the Nile Delta.

Mohamed Aboul Maati, his colleague in his fifties from Ismailia in the Sinai Peninsula, expressed being “incredibly proud to be able to accomplish his task.”

For months, they have felt the shocks and vibrations of relentless Israeli bombardments from across the border.

“On Saturday, the day before the ceasefire, the windows of my truck trembled from the impact of bombs dropped from the sky,” confessed Eassam Dessouky, 45.

“I woke up terrified; I thought the bombs were falling right in front of me,” he added. On Saturday, five members of a displaced Palestinian family died in a strike that hit their tent in Khan Younis (south), according to civil defense reports.

At the border on Sunday afternoon, as time stretched without the familiar sounds of bombardments, those living and working in the area appeared disoriented.

“This is the first time it has been this calm,” said a humanitarian worker stationed at the border since the war began.

Saad Ismail Rakha, 63, who claims to have family in Gaza, explained his feeling of helplessness in light of what Palestinians have endured.

“Every time I feel a little hunger, I imagine what they must be feeling on the other side of the border; it’s distressing,” he told AFP while wearing a dust-stained djellaba.

“We would do everything we can to help our Palestinian brothers; we would give our lives if we could. But all we can do is transport our cargo,” he stated.

At 22 years old, Nasser Ayman Nasr has been driving his father’s truck for four years along the 275 km separating Sharqiya in the Nile Delta from Gaza to deliver aid.

Even before the current war, this small Palestinian territory was besieged and desperately needed assistance. However, nothing compares to what he has witnessed during this conflict.

“Children were shouting after my truck, pleading: ‘Uncle, uncle, please,'” he recounted about his trips into this territory before Israeli forces took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in May, leading to its closure.

“One day a woman threw herself in front of my truck begging me to stop and give her something to eat,” he recalled before the sharp sound of a horn urged him to move forward.

Waiting for his turn by the roadside, Nasser called out to another driver for a cigarette. “Damn it! I’ve been here for three months; I don’t have any left,” he said with a laugh.

Those who have delivered their goods and are returning home will only be absent for a few days. After visiting their loved ones and loading goods from humanitarian organizations, they will head straight back to the border for another round trip.

About محمد الفاسي