Washington: The humanitarian aid to Gaza via Egypt is expected to begin as soon as Friday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi reached an agreement.
“Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and American President Joe Biden have agreed on the sustainable delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip via the Rafah terminal,” Egyptian presidential spokesperson Ahmed Fahmy said in a statement, without specifying a date.
The development comes a day after Netanyahu announced Israel will not stop humanitarian aid reaching Gaza. He also assured visiting US President Joe Biden that Israel will do everything possible to ensure Gaza civilians stay out of harm’s way in their was against Hamas in the blockaded region.
Earlier on Wednesday, Biden arrived in Israel in an extraordinary war time visit. He met Netanyahu and issued a statement backing Israel in their war against “Hamas terrorists”
Biden said that during the meeting, the two leaders agreed on allowing 20 aid trucks waiting on the Egyptian side of Rafah border crossing to enter Gaza.
He, however, said that the aid will stop with immediate effects if it didn’t go to civilians and instead reaches Hamas militants.
“…if Hamas confiscates it, doesn’t let it get through … then it’s going to end,” a white House Spokesperson quoted Biden as saying. He also confirmed the aid trucks will start moving Friday at the earliest.
Israel has declared a war against Hamas and blocked all entry of food, water, medicine and fuel to Gaza following the brutal October 7 attack by Palestinian outfit’s militants.
Around 2,500 hundred Hamas militants invaded Israeli territory by land, air and sea and rampaged through border towns killing some 1,400 people and seizing at least 199 hostages, including children, women and foreign nationals.
The US president also backed Israel and blamed Gazan militants for the deadly al-Ahli hospital bombing in which more more than 470 people were killed. Biden said that from the evidence he has seen, it appeared the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza city was not bombed by Israel but the other party.
Based on what I’ve seen it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you. But there’s a lot of people out there who are not sure, so we’ve got to overcome a lot of things,” he declared.
Hamas and Palestinian authorities have blamed Israel for the hospital bombing but Israeli military denied the allegations and released purported evidence to claim the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) was behind the attack.
Israel shared an audio conversation in which, the military claimed, militants can be heard discussing an errant rocket that landed on the hospital.
According to Israeli claim, PIJ militants were firing rockets towards Israel from a cemetery behind the hospital. One of their rockets misfired and landed in the hospital premises, killing scores of civilians.
Agencies

KR Desk