A US-led effort to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip faltered on Monday, as President Joe Biden weighed a possible visit to Israel to show solidarity and try to influence the conduct of its war against Hamas.
The US and regional powers are pushing Israel to allow aid into Gaza and Egypt to open the Rafah crossing between its territory and the south of the bombarded enclave for other countries’ passport holders.
Washington officials estimate that 500 to 600 US nationals remain trapped in Gaza.
Biden, who has declared full support for Israel while emphasising the importance of the rules of war, is considering visiting the country this week, according to US officials, as the UN also seeks to relieve what it says is a mounting humanitarian crisis in Gaza
The EU also said it was planning to send two flights this week to provide “shelter items, medicines and hygiene kits” to Gaza via Egypt.
But the border remained blocked on Monday as the enclave endured its fifth consecutive day without electricity, with Israel also cutting off supplies of water and fuel.
“Until now, unfortunately, the Israeli government hasn’t taken a stance that allows the opening of the border crossing from the Gaza side to allow the entry of aid or the exit of third-country citizens,” Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister, told a press conference.
Hundreds of dual nationals waited by the locked crossing for several hours on Monday but many had already left by the afternoon, losing hope that it would open.
“I have been coming here every day for three days and I wait and nothing happens,” said Rasmeya Ahmed, a dual Palestinian-Jordanian national. “The road is dangerous and there are no cars. We are being exposed to danger in order to leave. This is unjust. There has to be a truce.”
In Jerusalem, members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, took shelter when sirens warned of a rocket attack. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, told the chamber he was seeking a “crushing victory” over Hamas, but warned that “victory will take time”.
Returning to the country after visiting Egypt and the Gulf states, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said the shared international priority was “to prevent the conflict from spreading, to safeguard innocent lives and to get assistance to those in Gaza who need it”.
But the two countries with control over access to the enclave remained at loggerheads.
Egypt said it would allow humanitarian aid into Gaza but insisted it would only permit people with dual citizenship into its territory. By contrast, some foreign officials said Israel was prepared to allow people to leave Gaza for Egypt, but was resisting the entry of humanitarian aid.
“The parties can’t reach a political agreement,” one diplomat said. “Egypt doesn’t want [Palestinian refugees] and Israel is pushing to get into Gaza [for a ground invasion following the deadly attacks by Hamas this month].”
Martin Griffiths, the UN’s humanitarian chief, told the Financial Times that the international body was calling for “safe corridors for aid to get in and safe corridors for people to go places where they can get aid”.
He added: “What Egypt is very, very clear about . . . is that they will not allow Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt because they fear for a great influx, which they will then have to take responsibility for, for an indefinite period.”
Israel and Hamas denied reports that a temporary ceasefire had been agreed to allow aid into the enclave, and Egyptian media said late on Monday that Israel had carried out an air strike on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing.
Israel has subjected Gaza to intense bombardment since Hamas militants launched a devastating assault on its territory on October 7. The Israeli military has said that the attack killed more than 1,400 people, and added on Monday that 199 — more than previously thought — had been taken hostage.
Palestinian health officials said on Monday that Israel’s bombardment had killed 2,750 people, surpassing the number of casualties recorded during the 50-day Israel-Gaza war of 2014.
Israel has also ordered almost half of Gaza’s 2.3mn population to leave the north of the strip ahead of an expected ground invasion.
The UN says 600,000 people in Gaza have already fled to the south of the enclave and are “in increasingly dire conditions”.
But two ministers in Netanyahu’s government vehemently rejected the idea of opening Rafah, with energy minister Israel Katz saying he “bitterly opposes” such a step.
“Our commitment is to the families of the murdered and kidnapped hostages — not to the Hamas murderers and those who helped them,” Katz said.
In comments that highlight the emotions stirred by the conflict, he accused the UN of becoming a “propaganda arm of a terrorist Isis organisation”.
The violence has also sparked concerns that fighting between Israel and Hamas could become a regional conflict.
Hizbollah, the Iran-backed militia in southern Lebanon, and Israeli forces have repeatedly exchanged fire across the border in recent days, while there has also been a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank.
Israel said on Monday it would begin to evacuate the residents of 28 towns within 2km of its border with Lebanon.
“[Hizbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah wants to take our focus away from Gaza, and he does it in co-ordination with Iran,” said Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, chief spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces. “We’re focused on Gaza, [this] war is focused on Gaza.”
But he added the IDF had already “brought more force to the north” and warned Hizbollah to expect a “lethal attack” if it tested Israel.
Additional reporting by Neri Zilber, James Politi, Samer Al-Atrush and Heba Saleh
Credit: Source link
