The US President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has agreed to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza to permit a first wave of about 20 humanitarian relief trucks through.
Egypt open Gaza crossing for aid trucks: Biden called Sisi from Air Force One on his way back from a trip to Israel, where he was showing support for the attacks on October 7 by Hamas. “He agreed to… let up to 20 trucks through, to begin with,” Biden told reporters.
According to Biden, the container probably wouldn’t cross until Friday since the road at the crossing needed work.
“The road will be repaired. For these trucks to pass, potholes must be filled. They anticipate that it will take around eight hours tomorrow, and that will happen.
According to the US president, the first 20 trucks would serve as a trial run for a mechanism of distributing supplies without letting Gaza-controlling Palestinian militant group Hamas profit.
On the Gaza side of the border, the UN is planning to distribute aid.
“If Hamas seizes it, blocks its passage, or just seizes it, then the situation will come to an end because we won’t be delivering any humanitarian aid to Hamas if they seize it. That’s the promise I’ve made, added Biden.
The 20 trucks, he continued, were just a “first tranche”; there are still “150 or something” trucks in queue. “The permission for the rest to cross will depend on how it goes.”
“Key Highlights of President Biden’s Response to Gaza Hospital Raid and Trip to the Conflict Zone”
“After a deadly raid on a Gaza hospital that infuriated the Arab world, they scheduled Biden to see Sisi on Wednesday at a four-way conference in Jordan. However, they postponed the meeting.”
Instead, he said that he had spent nearly 30 minutes speaking with Sisi from Air Force One.
“The bottom line is that he (Sisi) deserves some real credit because he was very accommodating,” the president of the United States stated.
While reiterating US support for partner Israel, Biden claimed his trip to the conflict zone was successful and that he was “very blunt with the Israelis” about the need to permit aid into Gaza.
“You should try to stop the agony if you have the chance. Period. And if you don’t, your reputation will suffer on a global scale. “And I believe all understand that,” he added.
When questioned by media about claims that his administration had assured Israel that US forces would support Israeli troops in any attack by the potent Hezbollah movement against Israel, Biden responded that this was “not true.”
In contrast, he asserted that “our military is talking with their military about what the alternatives are” in the event of a Hezbollah attack.