First humanitarian aid reaches Gaza after 2 weeks of Israel-Hamas war
Editor's Note: For the latest news on the Israel-Hamas conflict, please see our live updates file here.
As the first humanitarian aid since the war began between Israel and Hamas reached the Gaza Strip through a key border crossing on Saturday, Israel said it was preparing to step up attacks on the besieged territory.
A 20-truck convoy entered Gaza carrying desperately needed supplies two weeks after the militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel and the country responded by sealing off and shelling the Gaza Strip where Hamas rules.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic, international groups have warned, as Palestinians are rationing food, drinking dirty water and hospitals are overwhelmed with injured and running low on supplies.
Two trucks that entered Gaza from Egypt are carrying more than 44,000 bottles of drinking water from the U.N. children's agency – a day's supply for 22,000 people, according to UNICEF.
Israel continues to launch strikes that have leveled neighborhoods in Gaza, and has warned of a coming ground invasion. About half of the territory's 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their homes. Gaza officials say Israel's strikes have killed more than 4,000 people. In Israel, more than 1,400 people have died – mostly civilians who died during the Hamas incursion.
Faith traditions: In Israel-Hamas war, a struggle to bury the dead
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the first aid delivery but said more is needed. He said Hamas must not steal the aid or prevent it from getting to civilians who need it.
“With this convoy, the international community is beginning to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza that has left residents of Gaza without access to sufficient food, water, medical care, and safe shelter," Blinken said in a statement. "We urge all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open to enable the continued movement of aid that is imperative to the welfare of the people of Gaza."
Aid groups said the supplies let in Saturday are not nearly enough, and more than 200 trucks carrying roughly 3,000 tons of aid have been positioned near the crossing for days. The amount of resources entering Gaza Saturday paled in comparison to the supplies that were sent into the occupied territory on a daily basis before the war started, Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program, told The Associated Press.
“We need many, many, many more trucks and a continual flow of aid," she said, noting about 400 trucks used to enter Gaza daily.
Israeli officials previously said nothing would enter Gaza until Hamas released more than 200 hostages taken during the group's rampage two weeks ago. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said aid would be delivered only to southern Gaza, the region to which the army has ordered that people relocate. He added that no fuel would enter the territory.
The opening of the border came hours after officials announced Hamas had released an American woman and her teenage daughter, who were taken captive while visiting Israel. It wasn't clear if the release of the hostages and the delivery of aid to Gaza were related.
Latest developments:
∎ When the Rafah crossing opened Saturday morning to allow aid into Gaza from Egypt, dual citizens rushed to the border in the hopes they'd be permitted to enter Egypt, but crowds of disappointed Palestinians holding American, Canadian, German and British passports waited hours in vain, unable to cross.
∎ The explosion at Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab Hospital on Tuesday that U.S. officials estimate killed between 100 and 300 people was likely caused by the breaking up of a rocket that was fired from within Palestinian territory, an analysis by the Associated Press concluded.
∎ Fighting has intensified along Israel's border with Lebanon, with Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters exchanging fire Saturday in several areas along the border.
∎ Former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, a child of Palestinian and Syrian immigrants, said Friday that several of his relatives died at Saint Porphyrios Orthodox Church where they were sheltering when an Israeli airstrike hit late Thursday. Israel acknowledged the blast and said the church was not the military's intended target.
Biden speaks with American mother and daughter released by Hamas: 'Glad you’re out'
The White House on Saturday released a video clip of President Joe Biden greeting two American hostages released by Hamas after nearly two weeks.
“I’m so ... glad you’re out,” Biden told Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie.
The pair were the first hostages released by Hamas since militants took more than 200 people captive on Oct. 7. The Chicago-area family had been visiting Israel for the High Holidays when the militants' attack began.
Hamas said it set the Raanans free for humanitarian reasons after an agreement was struck with the Qatari government. Both Judith Raanan and her daughter are healthy and well, she told the president during their brief call.
“I just want to say thank you for your services to Israel,” she said to Biden.
“I’m just delighted that we were able to get you out. We’ve been working on it for a long time,” Biden said from the Oval Office. “We’re going to get them all out, God willing.”
Meir Hecht, a rabbi in Evanston, Illinois, told USA TODAY earlier this week that Judith worked in health care and was a bright, kind and involved member of the community. Her teen daughter recently graduated from Deerfield High School and loved art and animals, he said.
-Karissa Waddick
Israel says it will increase attacks on Gaza
Israel plans to step up its attacks on the Gaza Strip starting Saturday as preparation for the next stage of its war on Hamas, Israel's military spokesman said.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Saturday night that the military was trying to create optimal conditions before its potential ground invasion into Gaza.
“We will deepen our attacks to minimize the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks, from today,” Hagari said.
He repeated his call for residents of Gaza City to head south for their safety.
-The Associated Press
World leaders call for more aid to Gaza, discuss how to de-escalate war
World leaders called for more aid in Gaza and called for the protection of civilians at a summit in Cairo focused on ways to de-escalate the Israel-Hamas war on Saturday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has asked for an international peace summit and for the release of hostages and prisoners. He reiterated his “complete rejection of the killing of civilians on both sides.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the brutal attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians “can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.” Guterres said a two-state solution to the conflict is the only realistic solution. He said the U.N. is working to increase help to Gaza after the first convoy of aid was allowed in Saturday.
"The people of Gaza need a commitment for much, much more – a continuous delivery of aid to Gaza at the scale that is needed,” he said.
The office of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said there was a double standard when it came to the world's reactions to Israel's bombing of Gaza.
"While we see one place officials rushing and competing to promptly condemn the killing of innocent people, we find incomprehensible hesitation in denouncing the same act in another place,” the office said.
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 countries have said there is no evidence that Iran was directly involved in Hamas’ attack.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel-Hamas war live updates: Aid enters Gaza; hostages released
