While Israel’s defence minister ordered his forces to prepare to enter the Gaza Strip in order to annihilate the Palestinian militant group, US President Joe Biden urged Americans to contribute billions more to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas.
Biden said that Hamas aimed to “annihilate” Israel’s democracy during a late-night, televised White House speech on Thursday. The speech also covered Ukraine’s efforts to stave off Russia’s invasion.
The president also emphasised how urgent it is to provide food, water, and medication to Gaza’s civilian Palestinian population. He said, “We can’t ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians who only want to live in peace and have opportunity.”
Israel seems closer to launching a full-scale assault on Gaza, the Hamas-ruled region with a dense population. Close to the Gaza border, the Israeli military has gathered more soldiers and weaponry. “You see Gaza now from a distance, you will soon see it from inside. The command will come,” Yoav Gallant, the Israeli minister of defence, told soldiers assembled on Thursday near the Gaza border.
On Friday, Biden announced that he would seek Congress to authorise more financing for Israel, his “critical partner”. That would come to a total of $14 billion, according to a source previously acquainted with the case. “It’s a smart investment that’s gonna pay dividends for American security for generations,” Biden stated.
After Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli cities and kibbutzes on October 7, murdering 1,400 Israelis, seizing several prisoners, and laying siege to the 2.3 million residents of the enclave, Israel unleashed a barrage of airstrikes on Gaza.
Palestinian health officials report that over a million people have been left homeless and that almost 3,500 individuals have died in Gaza. Additionally, Israel has placed a siege on Gaza, where residents report that their condition is dire due to a lack of fuel, food, and water.
Reporters in Amman were informed by Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi that “all the indications are that the worst is coming.”
Biden tried, but was not very successful, to mediate a solution to allow supplies into Gaza during his eight-hour visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
He claimed that 20 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies might enter the enclave with the agreement of Israel and Egypt. According to two security sources in Egypt, equipment for repairing roads in Gaza was transported via the country’s border crossing on Thursday. In Egypt, about a hundred vehicles were in wait.
Due to Israeli bombing on the Palestinian side of the border, the crossing has not been operating.
The likelihood of supplies reaching Gaza on Friday seemed to be decreasing, despite the expectation of certain authorities. According to the State Department, negotiations on the “exact modalities” of assistance supplies were still ongoing between Israeli and Egyptian officials and David Satterfield, the recently designated US Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues.
Israel has requested guarantees that aid supplies won’t be taken over by Hamas terrorists in light of the numerous delays and roadblocks.
The UN has demanded that aid resume at the 100 truck per day pre-conflict levels. On Friday, Secretary General Antonio Guterres was scheduled to visit the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
