Thank you.
I have been to Rafah, and I have seen first-hand the number of trucks that are stuck at the border. There are thousands of trucks. There were at least 2,000 when I was there. They had been at the border for more than 21 days.
That aid needs to get through. The process that was in place at that time was too cumbersome and time-consuming. There have been improvements recently, with the opening of the Erez border crossing. That has allowed Jordan to cut through the West Bank and deliver aid to northern Gaza, which is a priority for all of us because northern Gaza has famine-like conditions, according to the head of the World Food Programme, Cindy McCain.
The fact is that international humanitarian law calls for the unimpeded access of both aid and humanitarian workers. That's been the Canadian position. We've worked with our partners to make sure we're there not only to provide aid but also to ensure that we're doing everything we can to have the aid go in, including by pursuing airdrops. For various reasons, the trucks were not able to make it to the northern Gaza population. Therefore, we embarked on airdrops, together with many like-minded countries, and we'll continue to do that.
The amount of aid and the conditions under which humanitarian workers have to operate inside Gaza are not optimal. They are far from acceptable. Based on our monitoring of the situation, we continue to call for better, unimpeded access for both aid and workers.