‘Enough is enough’: UN diplomats visit Rafah crossing amid concerns over dwindling Gaza aid
UN envoys from the security council have made a whirlwind trip to Egypt’s Rafah Crossing into Gaza in what is being seen as a urgent attempt to try to halt the war.
The trip went ahead under heavy security as there were further signs of a deterioration in law and order – with starving Gazans becoming more and more desperate to find food and water.
Camera teams inside the Gaza Strip filmed yet more frantic scenes, showing crowds scavenging around water bottles which appeared to have fallen off an aid truck.
Israel-Gaza latest: UN aid boss has ‘no words’ to describe scenes in Gaza
The truck was filmed moving at speed with a number of men, one armed, sitting on top of the aid as if they were guarding the cargo.
The UN trip to the border was hastily organised by the United Arab Emirates, the sole Arab representative on the Security Council, in the wake of the failure to agree on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
We were part of the entourage that accompanied the diplomats, which included representatives from Russia, China, Brazil, Albania, Japan, Slovenia and the UK- but did not include the US.
All 15 members of the security council were invited, including some of the incoming rotating non-permanent members.
The US and France were the only two of the five permanent members to not take up the invitation.
The diplomats had the chance to see the situation at Rafah first hand
In a heavily embargoed visit due to security concerns, the group was whisked around key areas, as well as the border crossing, to give them first-hand experience of the difficulties in delivering aid and the size of the problem facing agencies.
With the truce collapsing about a week ago, the number of aid trucks entering Gaza has dwindled to sometimes not more than 50 a day.
Nearly 90% of the 2.3 million citizens of Gaza are displaced, thousands are dead and wounded, and the number of operating hospitals reduced to a fraction compared to before the Hamas attack on Israel.
‘Israel not holding up aid’
But even as the trip went ahead, Israeli spokespeople insisted they were not to blame for the log-jam of aid trucks on the roads leading to the border crossing.
Eylon Levy, speaking on behalf of the Israeli government, said they’d opened a second crossing to ease aid delivery through Kareem Shalom – the only other Israeli border with Gaza in the south.
“There’s no hold up on the Israeli side,” Mr Levy insisted. He hinted the paucity of aid reaching Gazans was down to poor coordination by the organisational bodies responsible on the other side of the border.
“The problem is the bottleneck at the Rafah crossing, and the problem is that international agencies are not keeping pace. Israel is not placing any restrictions on humanitarian necessities in the Strip,” he added.
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Hamas stealing aid, claims Israel
Sky News has not been able to independently confirm whether the Kareem Shalom border is fully open or how it is operating.
The UAE’s UN ambassador, Lana Nusseibeh, said it is still only being used to scan and check aid trucks before they enter Gaza – but the trucks are then re-routed to the nearby Rafah crossing – which before the war was intended only as a pedestrian crossing.
She told Sky News: “There’s a lot of blame going round. There are over 17,000 dead Palestinians from this conflict from Israel’s attack on Gaza, and 60% of them, 70% of them, are woman and children – so there’s a dire situation on the ground in Gaza that we have to address.
Palestinian children queue to collect water in Rafah
The UAE ambassador says Kareem Shalom is still only being used to scan and check aid
“More broadly, on humanitarian aid, I think we need some kind of monitoring mechanism that is efficient,” she added.
“What we are seeing here, with trucks lining up the border on the way in, is not efficient on that scale. Kareem Shalom has to be opened and it should become a crossing point, as much as a scanning point for aid to go in.
“Palestinians are the future neighbours of the state of Israel. How you treat your neighbours is going to define what happens for decades to come and the kind of peace we want in the region.”
‘Let down by the UN’
The UN diplomats were driven in buses past lengthy lines of aid trucks parked up along the road leading to the border crossing, as well as parked in nearby Arish town, waiting to be checked before getting permission to go inside Gaza.
Accompanied by Egyptian police escorts and a van flying a prominent white flag, the convoy was also taken to Arish hospital to see injured and wounded Palestinians, as well as shown a Red Crescent warehouse stacked full of essentials including food, medicines, water purifiers and cold weather clothing.
When the group reached the Rafah crossing, Sarah Badr, a young woman from the World Youth Forum, interrupted the visit to urge them to use their influence to stop the war.
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Alex Crawford: ‘Streets’ of backed-up aid for Gaza
A Red Crescent warehouse full of aid
“When I visited the United Nations when I was much younger I was so proud because of the declaration of human rights and what it represented,” she said.
“We just want peace, peace on both sides.”
Read more:
‘Give up and surrender’: Hamas outgunned and outnumbered
Hostages released from Gaza describe ‘hell’ of Hamas captivity
Security council members who voted for a ceasefire were frustrated by the failure because of the US veto.
The ambassador for China, Zhang Jun, told Sky News: “This is really a tragic event, not just for the Palestinians, but for the whole world. We should not allow it to continue. It has been too long.”
Smoke could be side from over the Gaza side of the wall
‘We should not allow it to continue’, said China’s envoy
But like many of the other ambassadors, they vowed to continue the battle for a ceasefire and a lasting peace.
“This is clearly the will of the international community,” the UAE’s ambassador to the UN said. “And we have to look at a two-state solution and how to create peace in the region.”
The diplomatic group was also able to interact virtually via screens with doctors and patients at the new UAE field hospital inside Gaza in Rafah – and was taken to the opening of a new desalination plant that will pump fresh water to 300,000 people.
As the diplomatic group was being driven by the heavily fortified wall separating Egypt from Gaza, the ambassadors could see smoke from bombings on the other side and what appeared to be rocket fire – as well as Palestinians waving to them and standing on ridges on the Gaza side.
“Enough is enough,” Zhang Jun said.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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