No world leader has more firmly proclaimed support for Israel in its war against Hamas than President Joe Biden, but the Biden administration is also showing deep commitment to aiding the civilian population of the war-battered Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military ramped up its reach Sunday, striking targets in Syria, the West Bank and Gaza amid growing concerns the war will spread more widely across the Middle East. Biden has warned Iran and other foes of Israel in the region to stay out of the war.
The intensified military actions came as a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid that was scheduled to make its way into Gaza from Egypt for a second day finally arrived late Sunday after a long delay. U.N. relief chief Martin Griffiths said 14 trucks, six fewer than the previous day, reached Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.
“Another small glimmer of hope for the millions of people in dire need of humanitarian aid,” he tweeted, adding that much more was needed.
Biden and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it’s coming. In a White House statement following a Sunday phone call, they “affirmed that there will now be continued flow of this critical assistance into Gaza.”
Israel has been pounding Gaza relentlessly since Hamas’ stunning, brutal attack Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,000 Israelis and saw the seizure of more than 200 hostages. Israel’s overnight air raids late Saturday and early Sunday alone killed at least 55 people and destroyed 30 homes, the Hamas government press office said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned Israel and the U.S on Sunday that “if they do not immediately stop the crime against humanity and genocide in Gaza, anything is possible at any moment and the region will go out of control.”
“Bombardments continue almost unabated as hostilities enter the 15th day in Gaza,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its latest situation report.
First humanitarian aid reaches Gaza:Convoy arrives after 2 weeks of Israel-Hamas war
Developments:
∎ An Israeli soldier was killed and three others wounded during a raid inside Gaza as part of efforts to rescue more than 200 Hamas hostages, according to Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.
∎ The stabbing death of a synagogue president in Detroit does not appear to have been motivated by antisemitism, the city’s police chief said Sunday. Samantha Woll was found dead near her home Saturday.
∎ Thousands of pregnant women in the Gaza Strip who could give birth within weeks are in grave danger because they are not able to reach a medical facility to deliver, Doctors Without Borders warned.
∎ Hezbollah’s deputy leader in Lebanon, Sheikh Naim Kassem, warned that Israel would pay a high price if it commences a much-anticipated ground offensive in Gaza.
Smaller flow of aid arrives in Gaza after negotiations
Griffiths said earlier Sunday the U.N. was “deep in negotiation” over the humanitarian aid with Israel and Egypt, as the U.S. tried to intercede. The efforts eventually paid off as the Israelis said late in the day they were allowing Sunday’s convoy to enter Gaza at the American government’s request.
COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said the assistance included water, food and medical supplies, all of it inspected by Israel. The Israelis still haven’t permitted fuel go to in, though fuel stored near Gaza’s southern border was allowed to get transported deeper into the enclave.
An Israeli blockade of Gaza has cut off food, water, medicine and electricity since the war began. OCHA, the U.N.’s humanitarian agency, pointed out children make up almost half of Gaza’s population of about 2.3 million and are among the most vulnerable.
OCHA also said the 20 trucks full of aid that went in Saturday represent a mere 4 percent of Gaza’s average daily imports before the war, so they were “a fraction of what is needed after 13 days of complete siege.” The agency called for at least 100 daily trucks.
Lack of fuel exacerbates growing crisis
As much as the incoming humanitarian aid is welcome, Israel’s decision not to allow fuel to be included leaves Gaza with only three days worth of the precious commodity, said UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
“Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries,” UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said Sunday. “Without fuel, aid will not reach many civilians in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance.”
Neither of the truck convoys that brought assistance into Gaza over the weekend included fuel, and the scarcity of it has crippled water and sanitation systems. The World Health Organization said at least 130 premature babies in neonatal units are at “grave risk” because the hospitals are running out of fuel for generators, needed because Israel cut off power to Gaza.
The WHO told the Associated Press it was calling for “immediate and sustained” access of fuel into Gaza to keep health facilities operating.
“The world cannot simply look on as these babies are killed by the siege on Gaza. … A failure to act is to sentence these babies to death,” she said.
Key Hamas military official killed in Gaza, Israel says
Israeli fighter jets have killed Muhamad Qatmash, second in command of Hamas’ Artillery Array in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces announced. IDF said Qatmash was responsible for artillery operations in Hamas’ Central Brigade in the Gaza Strip and played a significant role in the planning and execution of attacks on Israel. A weapons manufacturing site and a Hamas military command center were also struck, the IDF said.
The IDF has claimed killing several top Hamas commanders, some of them with direct involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks. The only military head whose death Hamas has acknowledged is Ayman Nofal, leader of the Central Brigade, killed by an Israeli airstrike.
Syria said it was forced to shut down international airports in Damascus and Aleppo because of the Israeli strike. The Syrian Transport Ministry said landing strips at both airports were damaged by missiles and one civilian worker was killed and another wounded at Damascus International Airport. Israel has carried out several strikes in Syria since the war began, citing the need to prevent Hezbollah and other militant groups from bringing in arms from Iran, which also supports Hamas.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed at least five people there early Sunday, according to the local Health Ministry. Two were killed in an airstrike on a mosque in the town of Jenin, which the Israeli military said belonged to Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had carried out several attacks and were planning another one.
Palestinian militants have fired over 7,000 rockets into Israel since the war began, the Israel Defense Forces said, and tens of thousands of Israelis have been forced to flee their homes. Hamas says it targeted Tel Aviv early Sunday.
Hamas field manual gave instructions to ‘shock troops’
A Hamas field manual and other documents found in the days following the Oct. 7 attack reveal military strength of the group and provided how-to instructions on techniques such as close-in, bloody killing, the Washington Post says. The Post said it obtained the field manual, which was found on the body of a Hamas fighter and lists instructions on operating weapons and identifies weaknesses in Israeli military equipment. It also provides instructions for “shock troops” on the best places to stab victims. The “neck in the collarbone area,” “spine” and “underarms” are on that list, the Post says.
Israeli strikes shut down Syrian airports
Syria said it was forced to shut down international airports in Damascus and Aleppo because of the Israeli strike. The Syrian Transport Ministry said landing strips at both airports were damaged by missiles and one civilian worker was killed and another wounded at Damascus International Airport. Israel has carried out several strikes in Syria since the war began, citing the need to prevent Hezbollah and other militant groups from bringing in arms from Iran, which also supports Hamas.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed at least five people there early Sunday, according to the local Health Ministry. Two were killed in an airstrike on a mosque in the town of Jenin, which the Israeli military said belonged to Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had carried out several attacks and were planning another one.
Palestinian militants have fired over 7,000 rockets into Israel since the war began, the Israel Defense Forces said, and tens of thousands of Israelis have been forced to flee their homes. Hamas says it targeted Tel Aviv early Sunday.
Housing situation dire in Gaza
The Israeli death toll has surpassed 1,400, most of them civilians killed in the first hours of Hamas’ bloody attack on border villages. At least 212 people were taken hostage; two Americans were released Friday in what Hamas described as a humanitarian gesture. The Gaza Health Ministry put the Palestinian death toll at 4,385. More than 1,000 people have been reported missing and are feared trapped or dead under rubble.
Israel repeated its calls Sunday for Palestinians to leave northern Gaza. Israeli authorities say an estimated 700,000 have already fled, but hundreds of thousands remain. Fleeing to southern Gaza has provided little relief as Israeli airstrikes there have also battered cities and infrastructure. Gaza’s Housing Ministry says more than 160,000 homes and apartments − more than 40% of all dwellings − in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed since the war began two weeks ago.
The result is that about 1.4 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been “internally displaced,” and 566,000 of them are staying in U.N. emergency shelters, the U.N. says.
What is Hamas?
Hamas – an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, or the Islamic resistance movement – was founded in 1987 by activists connected to the Muslim Brotherhood during the first Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. The State Department designated Hamas a terrorist group in 1997, and several other nations also consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
In 2006, Hamas won parliamentary elections, and in 2007 the group violently seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority, which was controlled by the rival Fatah movement that still governs the West Bank. There have been no elections since. The group calls for the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state that would replace the current state of Israel and believes in the use of violence to carry out the destruction of Israel.
Hamas receives financial, material, and logistical support from Iran. So far, however, the U.S. and other nations have said there is no evidence that Iran was directly involved in Hamas’ attack.
Contributing: The Associated Press
