Biden says Egypt’s Sisi has agreed to open Rafah crossing for 20 trucks

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has agreed to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza to allow a first batch of humanitarian aid trucks through, US President Joe Biden said Wednesday.

“He agreed to… let up to 20 trucks through to begin with,” Biden told reporters after calling Sisi from Air Force One while returning from a visit to Israel, where he was showing solidarity after the October 7 Hamas attacks.

The shipment would likely not cross until Friday as the road around the crossing needed repairs, Biden said.

The US leader said the UN would distribute the aid on the other side, and that a second tranche was possible depending on “how it goes.”

But he warned: “If Hamas confiscates it, doesn’t let it get through … then it’s going to end.”

Biden had been due to meet Sisi on Wednesday at a four-way summit in Jordan, but it was canceled after a deadly strike on a Gaza hospital that caused anger across the Arab world.

“The bottom line is that he (Sisi) deserves some real credit because he was very accommodating,” the US president added.