Gaza City, June 3 (RHC)-- Hundreds of aid trucks are stuck in Egypt with food supplies rotting for weeks after Israel took control of the crucial Rafah crossing last month.

Pressure is mounting on Israel and Egypt to reopen the crossing, which connects Gaza to Egypt, to allow aid deliveries.  Officials from Egypt, the US and Israel are set to meet in Cairo to address the issue.   The U.S. built a $320 million floating pier to deliver aid, but it was washed away within weeks. 

The United States, Jordan and several other countries also dropped aid by planes amid the unprecedented hunger situation in the Palestinian enclave -- but many observers say it is only a publicity stunt.

Even before Israel took control of Rafah, the number of aid trucks entering Gaza was way below the requirement.  The UN says at least 500 to 600 trucks are required daily to feed millions of people on the brink of starvation. 

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global hunger monitor, has warned of an imminent famine in parts of Gaza, home to 2.3 million people.

Another crossing that Israel controls, Karem Abu Salem (known as Kerem Shalom in Israel), remains functionally closed, according to aid workers from multiple aid organisations.

A daily average of just eight aid trucks enter Gaza through Karem Abu Salem since it reopened on May 8.
Empty trucks from Gaza en route to load aid at Karem Abu Salem often wait for hours behind commercial trucks carrying goods to sell in Gaza, which officials say number more than 100 or 200 per day, according to The New York Times newspaper.