Egyptian border crossing to Gaza set to reopen amid diplomats’ aid push

Cairo/Washington/Gaza — An Egyptian-controlled border crossing into Gaza is expected to reopen amid diplomatic efforts to get aid into the enclave that has been under intense Israeli bombing since the rampage by the militant group Hamas killed 1,300 people.

Shocked by the assault on towns and villages, Israel is carrying out the most intense bombardment Gaza has seen, has imposed a strict blockade, and is preparing a ground invasion.

Hundreds of metric tonnes of aid from several countries have been held up in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula for days pending a deal for its safe delivery to Gaza and the evacuation of some foreign passport holders through the Rafah crossing.

“Rafah will be reopened. We’re putting in place with the UN, with Egypt, with Israel, with others, a mechanism by which to get the assistance in and to get it to people who need it,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said after a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.

Blinken did not give a specific time for the crossing to reopen. Veteran US diplomat David Satterfield, appointed on Sunday as a special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues, will arrive in Egypt on Monday to work out the details, Blinken said.

US President Joe Biden has urged Israel to follow the laws of war in its response to the Hamas attacks, and on Sunday said in a post on social media that “the overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with Hamas’ appalling attacks and are suffering as a result of them”.

In a CBS 60 Minutes interview aired on Sunday, Biden also said Israel has to eliminate Hamas, but warned that it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza.

NBC News, citing a Palestinian official, reported the Rafah border crossing would open at 9am (8am) on Monday. Citing a security source, ABC News reported the crossing will open for a few hours on Monday, without providing details. Reuters was not immediately able to confirm either report.

No surrender

Israel has urged exhausted Gazans to evacuate south, which hundreds of thousands have already done in the besieged enclave that is home to more than 2-million people. Hamas, which runs Gaza, has told people to ignore Israel’s message.

“Hamas has always said that there is no surrender, there is only freedom and justice,” the militant group said on Sunday.

Palestinians in Gaza said Israel’s bombing campaign overnight was the heaviest since it launched its retaliatory attacks last week. Bombardment was especially heavy in Gaza City, with air strikes hitting the areas around two of the city’s main hospitals, they said.

Reserves of fuel at all hospitals across the Gaza Strip are expected to last only about 24 more hours, putting thousands of patients at risk, the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) said on Monday. Authorities in Gaza said at least 2,670 people have so far been killed by Israel’s retaliatory strikes, a quarter of them children, and nearly 10,000 wounded. Another 1,000 people are missing and believed to be under rubble.

US government officials say they are mobilising to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, anticipating a brutal ground offensive.

Washington is also focused on avoiding a spillover of the conflict, especially with clashes with Lebanon escalating on Israel’s border.

Blinken said leaders in Arab states he visited across the region in recent days are determined to stop the war from spreading. Blinken is also seeking to secure the release of 155 hostages, including Americans, Israel says were taken by Hamas back into Gaza.

Demolish Hamas

Iran, which backs Hamas and Hezbollah, warned Israel of escalation if it keeps attacking Palestinians, adding that it could not simply stay an observer.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened Israel’s expanded emergency cabinet on Sunday, including former opposition lawmakers, in a show of unity. “Hamas thought we would be demolished. It is we who will demolish Hamas,” he said.

Israel’s military, which has massed tanks on Gaza’s border in preparation for a ground offensive, says it is targeting Hamas and its infrastructure in response.

Israeli aircraft on Sunday struck about 250 military targets, killing the Hamas southern district commander, the military said.

Israeli military chief Lt-Gen Herzi Halevi told soldiers near the Gaza border they will be entering Gaza to root out Hamas, targeting “every place, every commander, every operator”.

An Israeli blockade has prevented fuel, food and water from entering Gaza, though Netanyahu has agreed with Biden to resume the water supply to parts of southern Gaza, a minister said on Sunday.

The Israeli military said about 600,000 Gazans have left the northern half of the territory, which includes Gaza City’s more than 1-million residents.

Some Palestinians who went south said they are heading back north because they were attacked wherever they went.

Israeli aircraft bombed areas around Gaza City’s Al-Quds Hospital early on Monday, and ambulances at the facility are unable to move due to the strikes, Palestinian media reported.

Israel on Saturday gave the hospital a warning to evacuate, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which said it cannot move sick and wounded people out of the facility.

UN relief operations in Gaza “are on the verge of collapse”, said Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the UN agency for the Palestinians, UNRWA.

Reuters