Aid convoy returns as Egypt closes border with Gaza

CAIRO: Aid supplies and food could not reach Gaza from the Egyptian side today as the border was closed after fighting intensified following the collapse of a 72-hour truce agreed between Hamas and Israel.

A convoy of four trucks carrying humanitarian aid and food returned to Al-Arish, without being able to cross the Rafah crossing border, a security source said.

The Egyptian authorities could not open the border today to let the convoy reach Gaza.

The wounded Palestinians, too, could not cross over to Egypt for medical aid, though Egyptian ambulances were waiting for them at the border.

Egyptian authorities preferred to let the border remain closed until the situation improves in the Gaza Strip, especially in the Palestinian city of Rafah, the source said.

The border was closed after a series of airstrikes hit Gaza near the Rafah border.

Israeli F-16 jets unleashed an intense bombardment near the Gaza-Egypt border, the Palestinian Ministry of Interior said today.

UN representative in Jerusalem, Robert Serry, received assurances yesterday that "all parties agreed" to a 72-hour truce in Gaza.

The truce, which started this morning, ended two hours later when Israel renewed firing on Gaza and killed six people.

The Israeli military has, however, claimed that the truce ended after one of its soldiers was captured and two more were killed after the start of the ceasefire.