Egyptian media blames Israel for Egypt's siege of Gaza

From Egypt's Al Ahram, which is close to the government:

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that a humanitarian convoy has crossed from Egypt's Rafah border crossing into the war-torn Gaza Strip, becoming the first aid sent to Gaza by the UN organisation since the start of the seven-year Israeli blockade in 2007.

WFP announced it will send another convoy to cross into the costal enclave during the coming days. It praised the Egyptian government for opening the Rafah crossing and allowing WFP's convoy to "procure food in Egypt." The statement referred to the Egyptian Red Crescent as the coordinator of all the crossing of humanitarian goods through Rafah.

Egypt is congratulating itself for opening the Rafah crossing to the WFP, implying that somehow Israel's "blockade" was preventing the aid from going through Rafah up until now.

The truth is that Egypt had closed off the Rafah crossings for its own reasons since 2007, but now is seeking praise for opening them!

Now, is it true that the WFP hadn't gotten any aid into Gaza since 2007? Not at all. The WFP has been continuously working in Gaza, bringing food in through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing. That never stopped, even during the war. Al Ahram misrepresented what the WFP said:

For the first time since 2007, a humanitarian convoy of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) successfully crossed from Egypt into the Gaza Strip today, carrying enough food to feed around 150,000 people for five days.

After a seven-hour drive from Alexandria – where the food was procured – across the Sinai Peninsula, WFP’s trucks arrived at the Rafah crossing. The convoy of 18 trucks carried 15,600 food parcels – part of a total batch of 25,000 food parcels. The parcels include ready-to-eat food such as canned meat, canned beans, tea and dates. A second convoy with the remaining parcels is expected to cross into Gaza in the next few days. This is the first time that WFP has used the Rafah crossing point since the start of the Gaza blockade in 2007.

Israel has been providing continuous access for aid to Gaza. Egypt treated their fellow Arabs like dirt. And now Egypt is pretending that it is the good guy!

Of course - the world will believe Egypt.