Egypt agrees to open Gaza crossing for up to 20 aid trucks
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US President Joe Biden on Wednesday unveiled a deal to allow desperately-needed humanitarian aid to enter war-torn Gaza, where one million people have fled their homes amid withering Israeli air strikes. After face-to-face talks in Israel and intense telephone diplomacy with Egypt, Biden said a limited number of trucks would be allowed to cross the shuttered Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza from Friday. It would be the first international relief to enter Gaza since October 7, when Palestinian militant group Hamas launched shock raids into Israel, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing about 200 hostages. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments. - Aid for Gaza will begin moving through the Rafah crossing with Egypt from Friday at the earliest, White House officials said. The announcement to allow water, food and other supplies into the enclave is the first crack in a punishing 10-day siege on the territory. More than 100 trucks are currently positioned on the Egyptian side of the border waiting to enter Gaza. However, only an initial group of 20 trucks with humanitarian aid will be allowed through.
- British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak travels to Israel on Thursday before heading to other countries in the region in a bid to de-escalate the Israel-Gaza conflict, his office has said. Sunak is due to meet his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
- During his lightning visit to Israel on Wednesday, Biden said the Pentagon believed a strike on Gaza's Ahli Arab hospital was caused by an errant Palestinian rocket. At least 471 people were reported to have been killed in the blast at the hospital, according to the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas.
- The United States vetoed a UN resolution that would have condemned Hamas’s attacks against Israel and all violence against civilians and urged humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
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