The key facts
- Hamilton inspected the Rafah crossing and aid warehouses in El-Arish on 10 November
- A sand embankment collapse onto tents in Deir al-Balah on 8 November killed five people
- The Board of Peace called Israel's response to Gaza's needs 'insufficient'
A visit to the Gaza Strip border
Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton visited the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, 10 November, where he saw parcels of humanitarian aid stacked onto trucks. This was reported by The National. Rafah is one of the few routes for delivering aid into the Strip; the opposite side of the border is controlled by the Israeli army, which has restricted and at times completely blocked the entry of goods.
Red Crescent warehouses and the winter context
According to officials in North Sinai, the 41-year-old Briton also inspected the Egyptian Red Crescent's aid warehouses in El-Arish, where he was shown how aid is prepared and coordinated before being sent to Gaza. In January he had already visited an aid-packing facility for the enclave and described that experience as 'life-changing'.
Winter concerns
The visit coincided with growing concern about the winter period in Gaza. On Sunday, a sand embankment collapsed onto tents in Deir al-Balah, killing five people. The Board of Peace, which oversees the fragile ceasefire in Gaza and is chaired — by appointment of US President Donald Trump — by Trump himself, said Israel's response to Gaza's needs 'remains insufficient'. A significant part of the Strip's population is living in tents after the two-year campaign that began with the attacks of 7 October 2023.
Middle East races are no longer in doubt
Hamilton, who sits fourth in a championship already won by Italian Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes with three races left in the season, is expected in the region for the Qatar Grand Prix this month and the final Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next month. Both races, according to The National, appear set to go ahead: Formula 1 executives cancelled contingency plans to hold a race at Imola, and the Italian circuit was reportedly told on Tuesday to stop preparations. Doubts about the races had been raised by regional tensions over the war with Iran and by the cancellation earlier this year of rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia; Trump, the outlet reported, said the war with Iran 'will end pretty soon'.
