Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza City yesterday awaited the arrival of aid trucks promised under a deal US President Joe Biden struck with Egypt and Israel as the army struck more Hamas targets.
The Gaza war — sparked by the bloody Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that officials said has claimed more than 1,400 lives — has set off a wave of fury across the Middle East against Israel and its Western allies.
The conflict has claimed at least 3,500 lives in Gaza, said its Hamas-controlled health ministry. Entire city blocks have been leveled, water, food and power have been cut off, and more than 1 million people have been displaced.
Photo : AFP
“The pace of death, of suffering, of destruction ... cannot be exaggerated,” UN top humanitarian coordinator Martin Griffiths said about the crowded territory home to 2.4 million people.
There are fears of worse to come if Israel launches its anticipated ground invasion aimed at destroying Hamas and rescuing Israeli and foreign hostages, whose known number Israel yesterday revised up to 203.
Biden, on a flying visit to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war Cabinet on Wednesday, reiterated strong US support for the long-time ally, but also stressed the need to address the plight of Palestinian civilians.
Photo: EPA-EFE
He said he had agreed a deal for an initial 20 trucks carrying relief goods to cross the shuttered Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza, with the first deliveries expected today at the earliest.
“We want to get as many of the trucks out as possible,” Biden said aboard Air Force One on his flight back, while warning that “if Hamas confiscates it or doesn’t let it get through ... then it’s going to end.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was yesterday headed to Egypt where President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was also due to host Jordanian King Abdullah II.
Jordan said the two leaders would discuss ways “to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza,” a day after Amman snubbed Biden by canceling a four-way summit with Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
More than 100 trucks carrying aid goods have been queued for days on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, the only entry or exit point to Gaza not controlled by Israel.
Cairo has so far kept it closed, pointing to repeated Israeli strikes near the crossing and voicing fears that Israel might be hoping to permanently drive Palestinians out and into Egypt’s Sinai desert.
Biden, who was due to address the nation about the Gaza and Ukraine conflicts, announced the aid truck deal after what he called “blunt” talks in Israel and a phone call with al-Sisi.
Israel consented to the deal while pressing on with its military campaign.
Its army yesterday reported that it had destroyed hundreds more Hamas targets, including missile launch site and tunnels, and that “more than 10 terrorists were eliminated.”
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