[1/14]A formation of Israeli tanks and military personnel are positioned near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel on October 19, 2023. Portal/Violeta Santos Moura acquires license rights
- LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- Three Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in West Bank – WAFA News
- China and Russia express concern that the conflict could spread
TEL AVIV/GAZA, Oct 19 (Portal) – Egypt agreed to reopen its Gaza border crossing to allow aid to reach Palestinians, the United States said, as the humanitarian crisis deepens for the 2.3 million people living in the enclave, worsened and anti-Israeli protests broke out across the Middle East.
The region remained unstable after an explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital late Tuesday that Palestinian officials said killed 471 people and blamed on an Israeli airstrike.
Israel and the United States said the cause was a failed rocket launch by Islamist militants in Gaza, who denied responsibility. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said the death toll from the explosion was only “several dozen.”
Demonstrations broke out in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and elsewhere, while across the Middle East there was outrage at a hospital explosion. Lebanese security forces fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters who threw projectiles near the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, television footage showed.
Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian youths during protests in the West Bank, Palestinian officials said, while the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in a raid on the West Bank village of Budrus.
U.S. President Joe Biden discussed aid to Gaza by telephone with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi late Wednesday as he flew home from a less than eight-hour visit to Israel.
Biden told reporters that Sisi had agreed to open the Rafah border crossing from Egypt to Gaza to allow about 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid into the enclave, where people are desperately lacking food, water, fuel and other essentials after Israel imposed a blockade and airstrikes 12 days ago.
Biden did not give a timetable for the opening, but U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby said it would take place in the coming days after repairs to the road.
Fearing the conflict could spread beyond Gaza, Biden had planned to meet Arab leaders. But Jordan canceled its planned summit there with Egypt and the Palestinian Authority after the hospital explosion.
Chinese state media reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Thursday and stressed that the most urgent task was to reach a ceasefire and prevent the war from spreading.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also stressed the danger that the Gaza conflict could become regional, and Russia is in contact with Turkey on the matter, the Interfax news agency reported.
UN PREFERRED 100 TRUCKS A DAY
U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council on Wednesday that the organization is seeking to increase aid deliveries to Gaza back to 100 trucks a day, the same level as before the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Biden was scheduled to speak at the White House on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET (0000 GMT on Friday) about the U.S. response to Hamas’ attacks against Israel and Russia’s war against Ukraine, the White House said. Also on Thursday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was scheduled to visit Israel.
Egypt, which had previously said the Rafah border crossing was not technically closed but was not functional due to Israeli barrages, said Sisi and Biden had agreed to provide aid to Gaza “in a sustainable manner.” They coordinated an aid operation with international organizations within the framework of the United Nations.
During Biden’s visit, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel would allow food, water and medicine to enter the southern Gaza Strip via Egypt.
Biden has faced intense pressure around the world to ensure Israeli commitment to alleviating the plight of civilians in the small, densely populated coastal enclave. He promised $100 million in U.S. aid to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Mark Negev, an adviser to Netanyahu, said on CNN that Israel had agreed “in principle” to allow aid to Gaza through Egypt, but “we don’t want Hamas to steal aid that is aimed at civilians.” This is a real problem.” “
Israel reiterated that it would not allow assistance at its border crossing into Gaza until Hamas released about 200 hostages seized during its cross-border attack on Israel on October 7. Militants killed about 1,400 people in the attack.
Biden told reporters he has been blunt with Israel about the need to facilitate aid to Gaza. He previously said he would ask Congress this week for an unprecedented aid package for Israel, although no action would be possible until the House of Representatives elects a new speaker.
A source familiar with the matter said Biden is considering asking for $10 billion in aid to Israel as early as Friday.
Biden said the United States would do everything it could to ensure Israel’s security, while urging Israelis not to be consumed by anger and reaffirming that the vast majority of Palestinians do not stand with Hamas be connected.
Gaza’s health ministry said 3,478 Palestinians have been killed and 12,065 injured in Israeli air strikes on the besieged enclave since October 7.
“What sets us apart from the terrorists is that we believe in the fundamental dignity of every human life,” Biden said. If that is not respected, “then the terrorists win.”
Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Steve Holland in Tel Aviv and aboard Air Force One, Washington and Jerusalem offices; writing by Cynthia Osterman and Stephen Coates; Edited by Howard Goller, Simon Cameron-Moore and Lincoln Feast.
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