Egypt agrees to reopen Gaza border for humanitarian aid
CAIRO: Egypt agreed to reopen its border crossing with the Gaza Strip to allow aid to reach Palestinians as the humanitarian crisis worsened for the 2.3 million people trapped in the enclave.
The region remained volatile in the aftermath of an explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital which killed 471 people after and Israeli air strike.
Demonstrations erupted in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and elsewhere amid outrage across the Middle East over the hospital explosion. Lebanese security forces fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters throwing projectiles near the US embassy in Beirut.
Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank during protests, Palestinian officials said, and Palestinian man during a raid on the West Bank village of Budrus.
US President Joe Biden discussed aid for Gaza with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi by phone late on Wednesday, while flying home from a less than eight-hour visit to Israel.
Biden told reporters that Sisi agreed to open the Rafah crossing from Egypt to Gaza to allow about 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid into the enclave, where people are desperately short of food, water, fuel and other essentials after Israel unleashed a blockade and air strikes.
Biden did not give a timeline for the opening, but US national security spokesperson John Kirby said it would occur in coming days following repairs to the road.
Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Thursday and stressed the most urgent task was a ceasefire and stopping the war from expanding, Chinese state media reported.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also highlighted the risk the Gaza conflict might become regional, and Russia was in contact with Turkey over the matter.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council that the organisation sought to bring aid deliveries to Gaza back to 100 trucks a day, the level before the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Egypt said Sisi and Biden agreed to provide aid to Gaza “in a sustainable manner” and they were coordinating an aid effort with international organisations under the United Nations.
During Biden’s visit, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel would let food, water and medicines reach southern Gaza via Egypt.
Biden faced intense global pressure to secure an Israeli commitment to ease the plight of civilians in the small, densely populated coastal enclave. He pledged $100 million in US assistance for civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Israel reiterated it would not allow in aid through its crossing with Gaza until Hamas released about 200 hostages seized during its cross-border attack on Israel on October 7.
Biden told reporters he was blunt with Israel about the need to facilitate aid to Gaza. Earlier he said he would ask Congress for an unprecedented aid package for Israel this week. According t reports, Biden was considering asking for $10 billion in aid for Israel.