Israel agreed to allow humanitarian assistance to move into Gaza from Egypt, says Biden

TEL AVIV: President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Israel had agreed to allow humanitarian assistance to begin flowing into Gaza from Egypt, with the understanding it would be subject to inspections and that it should go to civilians and not Hamas militants.

In remarks from Tel Aviv where the president had gone to show support for Israel following a brutal and deadly Oct. 7 attack that killed roughly 1,400 people, Biden cautioned the nation against all-consuming rage.

“I understand. Many Americans understand,” Biden said, likening the attack to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. that killed nearly 3,000 people. “You can’t look at what has happened here … and not scream out for justice. While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it.”

Israel had cut off the flow of food, fuel and water to the Gaza Strip after the attack. Mediators have been struggling to break a deadlock over providing supplies to desperate civilians, aid groups and hospitals. An explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital compounded the suffering.

Shortly after Biden’s remarks, Israel confirmed food, water and medicine would begin to flow, though the timing wasn’t immediately clear.

There were conflicting claims of who was responsible for the hospital blast. Officials in Gaza quickly blamed an Israeli airstrike. Israel denied it was involved and released a flurry of video, audio and other information that it said showed the blast was instead due to a missile misfire by Islamic Jihad, another militant group operating in Gaza. The Islamic Jihad dismissed that claim. The Associated Press has not independently verified any of the claims or evidence released by the parties.

Biden on Wednesday said data from his Defense Department showed it was not likely a strike by the Israeli military.

Biden also said an additional $100 million in humanitarian assistance for Gaza and the West Bank.

Biden had also been scheduled to visit Jordan to meet with Arab leaders Wednesday, but the summit was called off after the hospital explosion. His remarks in Tel Aviv spoke both to the horrors that the Israelis had endured, but also the growing humanitarian crisis for Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

He told Netanyahu he was “deeply saddened and outraged” by the hospital explosion. But he also stressed that “Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people, and it has brought them only suffering.” And he spoke of the need to find ways of “encouraging life-saving capacity to help the Palestinians who are innocent, caught in the middle of this.”

Biden reiterated the U.S. was firmly behind Israel.