Israel agrees: Gaza can have vital aid via Egypt
US President Joe Biden announces $100m. in humanitarian aid for Gaza Strip and West Bank
Israel acquiesced on Wednesday to US demands to allow basic humanitarian aid such as food, water and medicine to enter the Gaza Strip through Egypt’s Rafah Crossing.
“In light of President Biden’s request, Israel will not prevent humanitarian assistance from Egypt as long as it is only food, water and medicine for the civilian population located in the southern Gaza Strip,” the Prime Minster’s Office said at the end of Biden’s one day solidarity visit to Tel Aviv.
The PMO warned, however, that it would only allow these supplies if they did not reach Hamas. “Any supplies that reach Hamas – will be prevented.”
The war cabinet took this step, “in light of the sweeping and vital American support for the war effort, as well as President Biden’s request for basic humanitarian assistance.”
The PMO stressed, however, that it would not provide assistance to the Palestinians as long as Hamas was some 200 people hostage. “Israel will not allow any humanitarian assistance from its territory to the Gaza Strip as long as our captives are not returned.”
“Israel demands Red Cross visits with our captives and is working to mobilize broad international support for this demand,” the PMO said.
Biden arrived in Israel on the 12th day of the Gaza war and spent the better part of the visit promoting his support for Israel, but he also underscored his commitment to the Palestinian people and announced a $100 million humanitarian aid package for Gaza and the West Bank.“This money will support more than one million displaced and conflict-affected Palestinians, including emergency needs in Gaza,” he said.
Israeli airstrikes as well as failed Palestinian rocket launches, however, have claimed some 3,500 Palestinian lives.
Some one million Palestinians, out of the 2.3 million that live in the Strip, have fled their homes in northern Gaza to escape the bombings.
Israel’s decision to stop the flow of food, fuel and electricity from Israel into Gaza, however, has created a humanitarian crisis.
During Biden’s trip, Netanyahu assured Biden that “During this war Israel will do everything it can to keep civilians out of harm’s way. We have asked them and will continue to ask them to move to safer areas.
“We will continue to work with you to ensure that the minimal requirements are met,” he said.
Biden said that it was important not to confuse Palestinians living in Gaza with ISIS-like Hamas terrorists who brutally killed Israelis, in some cases burning them alive.
“The vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas. Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people,” Biden said.
“Hamas uses innocents — innocent families in Gaza as human shields, putting their command centers, their weapons, their communications tunnels in residential areas,” Biden explained.
He understood, Biden said, that for Israel the Hamas massacre was reminiscent of the Holocaust and was larger in scope for Israel than the 9/11 attacks in 2001 were for America.
“For a nation the size of Israel, it was like 15 9/11s. The scale may be different, but I’m sure those horrors have tapped into some kind of primal feeling in Israel, just like it did and felt in the United States,” Biden said.
“Shock, pain, rage – an all-consuming rage. I understand, and many Americans understand,” he said.
But he cautioned, “While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it.”
Israel has an obligation as a Jewish state and a democracy to value human life, he said.
“You are a Jewish state, but you’re also a democracy. And like the United States, you don’t live by the rules of terrorists. You live by the rule of law. And when conflicts flare, you live by the rule – the law of wars.
“What sets us apart from the terrorists is we believe in the fundamental dignity of every human life – Israeli, Palestinian, Arab, Jew, Muslim, Christian – everyone.”
The world is “looking to see what you are going to do,” he said.