Cairo: The Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) on Monday, August 31, 2026, dispatched the 268th 'Zad Al-Ezza: From Egypt to Gaza' aid convoy, comprising a number of trucks bound for the Gaza Strip as part of its role as Egypt's national mechanism for coordinating and delivering humanitarian assistance to the enclave.
According to State Information Service Egypt, the ERC stated that the convoy is carrying various humanitarian supplies, including more than 62,500 food baskets, over 463 tons of relief supplies and medicines, and more than 1,874 tons of petroleum products to support the operation of hospitals and vital facilities in the Gaza Strip.
The ERC has served as Egypt's national mechanism for coordinating and facilitating the flow of aid to Gaza since the outbreak of the crisis in October 2023. It has maintained readiness across its logistics centers and continued efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance to the Strip with the support of 65,000 volunteers.
The statement noted that Israeli forces closed the crossings linking the Gaza Strip on March 2, 2025, following the conclusion of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement and the failure to reach an arrangement to extend the truce. The ceasefire was subsequently breached on March 18, 2025, when Israel launched heavy airstrikes and resumed ground operations in several areas of the Strip from which its forces had previously withdrawn.
Israeli authorities also prevented the entry of humanitarian aid, fuel, and shelter supplies for displaced Palestinians whose homes had been destroyed during the war, as well as heavy equipment required to clear rubble and support reconstruction efforts. The entry of aid into Gaza resumed in May 2025 under a mechanism implemented by the Israeli authorities and a US security company, despite opposition from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which said the mechanism deviated from the established international framework for humanitarian assistance.
The Israeli military subsequently announced a temporary 10-hour humanitarian pause on July 27, 2025, suspending military operations in parts of the Gaza Strip to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Mediators Egypt, Qatar, and the United States continued their efforts to reach a comprehensive ceasefire agreement in Gaza and facilitate the exchange of prisoners and detainees. An agreement on the first phase of a ceasefire was reached in the early hours of October 9, 2025, under US President Donald Trump's plan at the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit, through Egyptian, US, and Qatari mediation and with Turkish efforts.
The second phase of the agreement entered into force on February 2, 2026, following the completion of the exchange of prisoners and detainees and the handover of the remains of the last Israeli detainee under the first phase. The agreement allowed Palestinians to enter the Gaza Strip and wounded Palestinians to leave the enclave for treatment at Egyptian hospitals following the reopening of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing.