US reports deal with Egypt to restart aid to Gaza
Egypt has agreed to reopen its border crossing with the Gaza Strip to allow aid to reach Palestinians, the US says, as the humanitarian crisis worsened in the narrow enclave and anti-Israel protests flared across the Middle East.
Joe Biden met with Benjamin Netanyahu amid outrage and recrimination over the Gaza hospital blast. (AP PHOTO)
The region remained volatile in the aftermath of an explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital on Tuesday, which Palestinian officials said killed 471 people and blamed on what they said was an Israeli air strike.
Israel and the US said the cause was a failed rocket launch by anti-Israeli Palestinian militants in Gaza who denied responsibility.
Amid outrage over the hospital explosion, demonstrations erupted in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and elsewhere.
While flying home from a less than eight-hour visit to Israel, US President Joe Biden discussed aid for Gaza with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi by phone.
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 12 days ago.
Biden did not give a timeline for the opening, but US national security spokesman John Kirby said it would occur in coming days following repairs to the road.
Amid fears the conflict could spread beyond Gaza, Biden had planned to meet Arab leaders. But Jordan called off his planned summit there with Egypt and the Palestinian Authority after the hospital blast.
While the agreement was a breakthrough, the flow of relief will still fall short of the perceived need.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council on Wednesday that the organisation sought to bring aid deliveries to Gaza back to 100 trucks a day, the level before the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Egypt, which previously said the Rafah crossing was not technically closed but was inoperable due to Israeli barrages, said Sisi and Biden agreed to provide aid to Gaza “in a sustainable manner.” They were co-ordinating an aid effort with international organizations 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. Biden pledged $US100 million ($A158 million) in US assistance for civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Mark Regev, an adviser to Netanyahu, said on CNN that Israel had agreed to allow aid to Gaza via Egypt “in principle” but “we don’t want to see Hamas stealing aid that’s directed towards the civilian population. It’s a real problem.”
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. Militants killed about 1400 Israelis in the assault.
En route to Washington, 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, although no action is possible until the House of Representatives elects a new speaker.
A source familiar with the matter said Biden was considering asking for $US10 billion in aid for Israel as soon as Friday.
AAP
