AMMAN — Saudi Arabia's main humanitarian agency said on Thursday (July 4) the Israeli closure of Rafah and other crossings into Gaza was hampering its aid efforts to send lifesaving food, some of which was in danger of spoiling.

"We have hundreds of trucks now piling in Rafah because of the closure of Rafah and other corridors. We are facing big restrictions to reach the people of Gaza," said Abdullah al Rabeeah, the head of the state-run King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief).

Rabeeah, whose agency has provided over US$6 billion (S$8.1 billion) in aid worldwide in the last few years, said food on hundreds of trucks waiting to enter Gaza and stored in warehouses could be approaching expiry with the closure of the crossing since May 7, when Israel stepped up its offencive.

Food and medicine for Palestinians in Gaza are piling up in Egypt while sporadic supplies are now sent through Jordan and the West Bank to Gaza's Kerem Shalom crossing, UN officials say.

Some officials say as many as 2,500 trucks were waiting, with Egyptian warehouses nearly full.

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