Key Points
- A group of Australians are among those who've arrived at the Rafah crossing in Gaza hoping to evacuate.
- The border crossing has become the focus of aid efforts for Palestinians since the Hamas-Israel war started.
- UN officials say about 100 aid trucks would be needed daily to meet essential needs in Gaza.
Young children are among a group of Australians stranded at the Rafah crossing in Gaza.
"There is no place that's safe here," one boy told SBS Arabic.
"I want to go back to riding my bike in my suburb, I want to go back to playing soccer with my friends.
"I've really had enough. This is not natural."
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His family are among the scores of foreign nationals who've arrived at — passport in hand — hoping to get out.
Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip, is the main crossing that does not border Israel. Since of the enclave in retaliation for on 7 October, Rafah has become the focus of efforts to deliver aid.
The boy's mother told SBS Arabic that diplomatic to leave have so far failed.
"We've been told by the Australian officials - they called us multiple times telling us to come here to cross the border, but unfortunately there's nothing serious," she said.
"There's no serious action so far. We are so disappointed. We are just really hoping to be able to cross just a few kilometres - just to be in a safer place."
Twenty aid trucks entered Gaza via Rafah on Monday, taking the total to 54 trucks since Saturday, United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said.
The UN said no fuel would mean a water desalination plant could not function, along with bakeries and hospitals.
This boy is among a group of Australians stranded at the Rafah crossing in Gaza. Source: SBS News
Some 1.4 million of those are now homeless.
Before the outbreak of conflict, an average of about 450 aid trucks arrived there daily.
The Department of Foreign Affairs says it's assisting 77 Australians, permanent residents and immediate family members in Gaza, telling SBS: "The situation in Gaza is highly challenging and rapidly changing."
Personnel from the Palestine Red Crescent Society unload a truck carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip after it enters from Egypt in Rafah. Source: EPA / Haitham Imad
Israeli authorities have repeatedly urged those in northern Gaza City to make their way south ahead of an expected ground raid.
But areas near the Rafah crossing have also come under attack.
At the weekend, an Israeli airstrike hit a cafe in the southern city of Khan Younis - just around 10km from the crossing - where displaced Palestinians had gathered to recharge their phones.
Around a dozen people were killed.
For a 12-year-old from Victoria, the fighting is becoming almost a terrible normality.
"I'm starting to get used to it. It's still scary where there's bombing nearby, but I'm kind of starting to get used to it."
Humanitarian deliveries through the Rafah crossing from Egypt began on Saturday after wrangling over procedures for inspecting the aid and bombardments on the Gaza side of the border had left relief materials stranded in Egypt.
For this 12-year-old from Victoria, the fighting is becoming almost a terrible normality. Source: SBS News
A US special envoy is negotiating with Israel, Egypt and the United Nations to create a "sustained delivery mechanism" to get aid into Gaza after aid convoys began crossing into the strip from Egypt.
"We want to see sustained traffic going through Rafah delivering humanitarian assistance," said US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Monday, adding that the "exact mechanism" of how to do that was under discussion.
Miller said the possible diversion of fuel was an "issue that we are discussing now with Israeli authorities."
Dujarric said the United Nations was pushing for fuel deliveries so the UN agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza, UNRWA, could continue operating.
"They can see the bottom of the fuel tank," Dujarric said of UNRWA. "We're talking days. And when that happens, that will be truly devastating, on top of what is already a devastating humanitarian situation."
- With additional reporting by SBS Arabic News and Reuters.
