United States President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al Sisi, has agreed to open the Rafah crossing linking his country with the Gaza Strip to allow the entry of 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid. The decision was announced after Israeli approval.
The US president made the announcement while speaking to the press aboard the presidential plane Air Force One during a stopover in Germany on his return trip to Washington from Israel, which he visited on Wednesday.
Biden stated that if the Islamist group Hamas intercepts the aid, it will be stopped, but that if the trucks reach the civilian population as planned, Egypt will allow more.
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“At the request of the president [de EEUU, Joe] Biden, Israel will not stop sending humanitarian aid through Egypt,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, adding that the authorization will be valid “as long as supplies do not reach Hamas,” which rules Gaza.
In a statement, Israel indicated that it will not allow the entry of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave from its territory until Hamas releases the hostages captured on October 7.
Netanyahu met in Tel Aviv this Wednesday with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, who declared that the release of the hostages was the “highest priority.”
Israeli authorities claim that 199 people have been captured during Hamas’s incursion into their territory.
The Islamist movement claims that between “200 and 250” hostages are being held in the Gaza Strip and that 22 of them have been killed in Israeli bombardments on the enclave.
Biden confirmed that Israel had authorized the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza through Egypt “as quickly as possible” and added that Washington is working with its partners to “get trucks across the border as quickly as possible.”
The US leader also announced that he will be asking Congress all week for “unprecedented” aid for Israel and advised the Jewish state to avoid the “mistakes” made by Washington after the September 11, 2011, attacks.
Biden went on to say that the current war, sparked by Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel, strengthened his support for a two-state solution, one Israeli and the other Palestinian.
American veto at the UN
Earlier this Wednesday, the United States was left alone at the UN Security Council in its staunch defense of its most important historic ally, Israel, by refusing to support a resolution calling for the imposition of “humanitarian pauses” and banning attacks on civilians. condemned from all sides. .
At the time of the vote on this resolution presented by Brazil, which had been negotiated for several days to gain maximum support, only the US Ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, raised her arm during the negative votes.
Since his country had a veto, the resolution became useless.
The text, proposed by Brazil, the current president of the Security Council, received twelve votes in favor, one against from the United States (one of the five permanent members with veto power) and abstentions from Russia and China.
Last Monday, Thomas-Greenfield himself also refused to support another, stronger resolution, presented by Russia and calling for an immediate ceasefire: the ambassador then cited the reason that the text did not explicitly address Hamas’s terrorist actions. way convict.
Brazil’s resolution this Wednesday reflected that wish of the United States and had reduced the request for a ceasefire to that of “humanitarian pauses” – that is, it did not ask to stop the Israeli offensive – but even then it wasn’t enough : Thomas-Greenfield said today that the text was missing a mention of Israel’s right to defend itself. (JO)
Source: Eluniverso
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