President Joe Biden spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday about getting humanitarian aid to Gaza faster as Israel intensifies its bombing campaign and launches 400 airstrikes against Hamas.
Relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia have been strained, but the two leaders spoke about how “much more is needed” for civilians in Gaza to have “continued access to food, water and medical assistance,” they said it said in a statement from the White House about the call.
Biden also spoke with MBS, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, about preventing the war from expanding.
The two discussed “ongoing diplomatic and military efforts to deter state and non-state actors from escalating the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” the White House said. The US fears that groups linked to Iran and Iraq could use the Israel-Hamas conflict to launch attacks in the region.
President Joe Biden has expressed concern that aid is not reaching Gaza quickly enough
The president, meanwhile, expressed concern about the 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip who have been running out of food, water and medicine since Israel sealed off the area following Hamas’ attack on towns in southern Israel on October 7.
Biden was asked at a White House event whether aid was arriving in Gaza fast enough and replied: “Not fast enough.”
His comments came as Israel hit the Gaza Strip with a barrage of airstrikes that destroyed several residential buildings and buried families under rubble.
Israel is also urging the Palestinians to help release the more than 200 hostages. The Israeli military dropped leaflets in Gaza asking for information about the hostages’ whereabouts and in return promising a reward and protection for the informant’s home.
“If you want a better future for yourself and your children, do good and share verified and valuable information about hostage situations in your area.” And the Israeli military promises you that it will make maximum efforts to ensure security for you and To ensure your home and that you receive a financial reward for it. We guarantee you absolute confidentiality. “The Israel Defense Forces,” a CNN translation said.
The White House has pushed for the immediate release of all hostages, but also acknowledged that it does not know the whereabouts of all hostages.
“We’re not entirely sure where every single hostage is.” And we’re working on analyzing that in more detail and we saw two more get out yesterday, obviously that’s just a tiny fraction of the pool that the In our opinion, Hamas owns. “But we believe the effort to continue negotiating the release of additional hostages is worth the effort,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby also noted that no humanitarian aid arrived in Gaza on Tuesday.
“We hope the materials can reach Gaza tomorrow,” said U.N. aid spokesman Eri Kaneko.
The first convoy of 20 trucks drove from Egypt to Gaza on Saturday, and the second convoy arrived the day after.
A total of 54 trucks carrying food, medicine and water have reached Gaza, in what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called “a drop of help in an ocean of need.”
More than 200 trucks carrying 3,000 tons of aid are waiting at the Egyptian border for Israeli permission to enter the Gaza Strip.
The trucks transport medical supplies from the World Health Organization (WHO), food and mineral water.
President Joe Biden spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (above right) about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip wait to pass through the Rafah border crossing in Egypt
The United States has also expressed concern that the fuel is running out, noting that it is needed for hospital facilities and to convert salt water into fresh water.
However, Israel said it was concerned that the fuel shipments could end up with Hamas.
Kirby on Tuesday described Israel’s concerns as legitimate but noted that civilians still need them.
“We still generally believe that the fuel must be able to get to the people of Gaza,” he said.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said on Tuesday it would be forced to suspend its operations in Gaza by Wednesday evening if fuel was not delivered to the area.
More than 4,600 Palestinians, more than a third of them children, have been killed in the relentless bombardment. Israel says it is targeting Hamas militants who killed more than 1,400 people in the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.
And facilities in Gaza are struggling to cope with the consequences. According to the World Health Organization, a total of 46 out of 72 primary health care facilities and 12 out of 35 hospitals have ceased operations.
The five main hospitals in the Gaza Strip are all filled beyond capacity, the territory’s health ministry said.
The Biden administration is pressuring Israel to delay its ground invasion of Gaza to buy time for more hostages to be released and more aid to enter the war-torn region.
And Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called on U.N. Security Council member states to use their influence to prevent the expansion of the war between Israel and Hamas.
He particularly focused on concerns about Iran and its proxies.
“To all members of this Council: If you, like the United States, want to prevent this conflict from spreading, tell Iran, tell its proxies publicly, privately and by all means: do not open another front against this Israel.” Conflict. “Don’t attack Israel’s partners,” Blinken said.