The United States and Israel have announced an agreement that will allow food and medicine to be imported from Egypt into the southern Gaza Strip. They did this at the end of the lightning visit of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, who visited Israel for the first time in wartime and which was marked by a massacre (471 dead, according to Gaza authorities) that occurred the day before by an explosion in a hospital in Gaza. The pact announced by the Israeli executive is to transport “food, water and medicine for the civilian population” from Egypt to the south of the Gaza Strip. There is no mention of the fuel that the only power plant (it has been shut down for days), the hospitals need for their generators and the pumps for water production. As long as Israeli hostages remain in the Gaza Strip, Israel will continue to block all supplies, such as electricity, from its territory. Back in Washington, Biden spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al Sisi, who promised to let 20 trucks carrying international aid through. “If Hamas takes them over or doesn’t let them through, it’s all over,” the US president told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office explained the agreement, which was unanimously approved by his executive branch. On the one hand, “Israel will not allow humanitarian aid from its territory” into Gaza until at least 199 Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip are released, which Hamas estimates to be between 200 and 250, some in the hands of other militias or small groups. On the other hand, there is a green light for what has been negotiated for days: “In view of President Biden’s request, Israel will not prevent humanitarian deliveries from Egypt as long as they are only food, water and medicine for the civilian population” in the southern Gaza Strip “Any shipments reaching Hamas will be prevented,” he added.
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Shortly before, in Tel Aviv, Biden had mentioned without further details a pact to “deliver humanitarian aid that will save the lives of civilians in Gaza.” But he warned: “If Hamas diverts or steals aid, it will prove once again that it does not care about the well-being of the Palestinian people.” Cairo has not yet commented on the existence of the agreement.
From the moment he landed that morning until his humanitarian aid announcement, all the words Biden had prepared for his trip had faded into the background. Attention turned to what he would say about the hospital massacre, which Gaza authorities blamed on a rocket fired by Israeli military aircraft and Israel blamed on a rocket fired by Islamic Jihad that missed its target. In his first remarks and alongside Netanyahu, Biden said he was “saddened and outraged” by the massacre. He read it from a box that he consulted frequently. Then he raised his head and added, “From what I’ve seen, it seems it came from the other team, not yours.” [el israelí]”But a lot of people aren’t sure, so we still have a lot of things to overcome.” Netanyahu nodded seriously.
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Biden later became more specific. He specifically cited a “failed missile from a terrorist group” as the reason for the explosion and noted that his conclusion was based on “data” provided to him by his country’s defense ministry. So far, no international organization has been able to verify responsibility for the attack.
The 3,478 dead and 11,000 wounded in the 12 days of Israeli bombing have not received public support since the 7th, when thousands of gunmen crossed into Israel from Gaza and killed about 1,400 people (the largest massacre at an open-air music festival). of the United States for Israel) and kidnapped at least 199. Biden said this Wednesday in Jerusalem that Hamas committed that day “atrocities that define ISIS.” [Estado Islámico] “You seem a little more rational,” he has offered his full support – “you are not alone” – and announced that he will ask Congress this week for an “unprecedented” aid package for Israel. But he also reiterated Washington’s official position – the need to create a Palestinian state to resolve the Middle East conflict – and emphasized that “the vast majority of Palestinians do not belong to Hamas.” In addition, $100 million (95 million euros) in humanitarian aid was announced for Gaza and the West Bank.
In private, however, Biden asked Netanyahu “difficult questions” as a “friend of Israel,” according to the social network X, formerly Twitter. The questions were about the “plans” that Israel is “advancing,” as US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby revealed during the flight to Tel Aviv airport without providing further details, reports Portal. Washington has two aircraft carrier groups in the Mediterranean to show Iran and its protected Lebanese militia Hezbollah its teeth at the possibility of opening a new front in the conflict.
From left: Blinken, Biden and Netanyahu, along with other Israeli authorities, are meeting in Tel Aviv this Wednesday. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (AFP)
The hospital massacre changed Biden’s journey. Firstly, because initially it was not supposed to be limited to Israel, but also included Jordan, where he wanted to hold a four-way meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan and the Presidents of Egypt, Abdel Fattá al Sisi, and the Palestinian National Council Authority (PNA). ), Mahmoud Abbas. It was an important meeting to finalize an agreement, negotiated for days, that will allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, where water, fuel and electricity are in short supply. Also to prevent the crisis from becoming even more regionalized and to agree on the departure of Gaza citizens with foreign passports through Egypt and the release of at least some of the Israeli hostages held mainly by Hamas. Abbas is the representative of the Palestinians recognized by the international community, while Al Sisi and Abdullah represent the two countries that share a border with the Palestinian territories (Egypt with Gaza; Jordan with the West Bank), conclude a peace agreement with Israel and are afraid of it received a wave of refugees.
The hospital bombing on Tuesday ruined the meeting. Abbas blamed Israel, declared three days of mourning and canceled his participation, while hundreds of people lukewarmly accused him and demanded his resignation on the streets of several West Bank cities, including at the ANP’s administrative headquarters, Ramallah. Shortly afterwards, the host country canceled the event. “There is nothing left to discuss except ending the war,” concluded Jordanian Foreign Minister Aiman Safadi. Thousands of people gathered in front of the Israeli embassy in Amman. The protest marches have spread to Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.
Shelter
The affected medical center, located in the heart of the Gaza capital, has become a refuge for thousands of people in recent days due to the severity and frequency of Israeli airstrikes, said Hussam Naum, Archbishop of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Jerusalem, this afternoon. who has owned the hospital since it was built in the late 19th century. They are expected to make up the majority of the dead because the projectile did not hit the buildings where the patients were, but rather the outdoor parking lot where many gathered.
At a press conference at St. George’s Anglican Cathedral in the Palestinian part of Jerusalem, Naum explained that the Israeli army warned them, mainly by telephone, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday to leave the hospital because it was located in the part of the Gaza Strip, which Israel wants to clear in view of a ground invasion of civilians. Last Tuesday, Israeli forces ordered the 1.1 million residents of this territory (half of the Gaza Strip) to move south, a move that was criticized by the United Nations and human rights organizations. Around 600,000 have already done so, while another 400,000 are seeking refuge in schools or hospitals – such as Al Ahli al Arabi – in various parts of the Gaza Strip.
It is difficult for the archbishop to determine the number of people who were in the hospital at the time of the explosion because the situation changed significantly. It is a large complex consisting of eight buildings, including a church, with a central courtyard and a parking lot. As of Saturday, it was hosting nearly 5,000 displaced people. Out of “moral obligation,” the center’s leaders told them that they had just received a warning from the Israeli military authorities to evacuate immediately. Only about 200 decided to stay.
“Then people came and went depending on what was happening around them. We are in the middle of it all [Ciudad de] Gaza, in [el distrito de] newspaper There are bomb attacks all the time. People flee to the hospital because they see it as a refuge. It depends on the time of day and what is happening,” he noted, accompanied by the leaders of the main churches in the Holy Land – to convey a “message of unity.” Among them is the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, recently appointed cardinal by Pope Francis, who last Monday offered to exchange himself for the Israeli children in the hands of the Gaza militias if it would help them regain their freedom .
Naum repeatedly refused to comment on those responsible for the bombing: “We know what we saw on television […]. We are not in a position to say who did it. We are neither soldiers nor journalists to be analyzed. No politicians who can decide about it. “We’ll just say it was a crime.”
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