Could humanitarian aid be allowed into Gaza today? The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza will open today for foreign nationals and humanitarian aid, NBC News reported yesterday following high-stakes talks in Cairo. A Palestinian official told the American broadcaster that from 9am CLT today, foreign nationals will be able to leave the enclave into Egypt and vital humanitarian aid will be allowed in. A separate bulletin from Asharq Business reported the same information, citing unnamed sources.

Maybe? The Egyptian government is yet to comment publicly on the report and there’s been no word yet from the Israelis that they won’t strike aid convoys rolling in. Egypt over the weekend refused to open the border for foreigners looking to leave Gaza, saying behind closed doors that it would only do so if aid were allowed into the strip.

Border discussed at Cairo talks between El Sisi, Blinken: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken telegraphed the opening of the border yesterday in comments to reporters following a “very good” conversation with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Cairo. “Rafah will be reopened. We’re putting in place with the United Nations, with Egypt, with Israel, with others, a mechanism by which to get the assistance in and to get it to people who need it,” he said. The two agreed on the need to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza and prevent civilian deaths, according to a US readout of the conversation. Ittihadiya’s release after the meeting was brief and said only that the two “long standing strategic partners” discussed “military escalation” in Gaza.

Israel has “over-extended the right to self-defense and turned into collective punishment for 2.3 mn people in Gaza,” El Sisi told Blinken in public comments before their meeting (watch, runtime: 11:12). El Sisi said that Egypt “unequivocally” condemns the massacre of Israeli civilians by Hamas but said that at the root of the crisis is “accumulated fury and hatred” caused by the occupation. An earlier meeting of the National Security Council had discussed the need for an end to civilian deaths and the provision of aid, and expressed support for the two state solution, Ittihadiya said.

The Biden administration won’t push for Gaza evacuation: The US will not back calls from Israel to resettle thousands of Gazans in Egypt, Blinken said in an interview with Al Arabiya. Blinken has been on a whistle-stop tour of Arab capitals over the past week for talks with regional leaders, most of whom have publicly condemned plans to force Palestinians out of Gaza. “I’ve heard directly from Palestinian Authority President [Mahmoud] Abbas and from virtually every other leader that I’ve talked to in the region, that that idea is a nonstarter, and so we do not support it,” he told the Saudi broadcaster.

But the pressure is still there:Qatari and Israeli officials have been in Cairo in recent days to push for Palestinians to be allowed into the country, while a number of European leaders have spoken with El Sisi on the subject, according to the Wall Street Journal. Danny Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the US, threatened that Egypt “will have to play ball” with the plans if it wants to avert a humanitarian disaster.

MPs condemn Gaza assault: A large number of Egyptian MPs delivered speeches in the House yesterday condemning Israeli aggression and rejecting the displacement of Palestinians. House Speaker Hanafi Gebaly accused Israel of breaching international law, and warned that its actions could trigger a wider conflict in the region.

NO GROUND INVASION YET-

The Israeli military is yet to start its anticipated ground invasion of Gaza. Amid the continued build-up of troops around the territory, analysts are warning of the potential risks of a full-scale invasion, from the difficulty of defeating Hamas in close-quarters urban combat to the likelihood of a wider conflict with Hezbollah and Palestinian fighters in Lebanon. In an interview yesterday, President Biden endorsed a decision to defeat Hamas but warned that an attempt to reoccupy the territory would be a “big mistake.”

But the rhetoric is ugly: In the past few days Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops that the IDF will “eliminate everything” in Gaza, the Israeli president suggested that all Gaza’s civilians are legitimate targets, and the country’s cabinet minister indicated that it will seize Palestinian land. “Whoever starts a war against Israel must lose territory,” Gideon Sa’ar said in an interview. Gaza “must be smaller at the end of the war.”

An “unprecedented human catastrophe” is taking place in Gaza a week into Israel’s siege, the head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, Philippe Lazzarini, said yesterday, warning that his colleagues are no longer able to provide humanitarian assistance. Thousands of people are without shelter, with an estimated 1 mn people displaced by the conflict, more than 600k of whom have fled Gaza City since Friday.

The death toll is climbing rapidly: Almost 2.7k people in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s bombing campaign and another 9.6k wounded, according to the latest figures from the Palestinian health ministry. This is up from just over 2.2k the day before. About 1.3k Israelis died and more than 3k were wounded in Hamas’ attack on 7 October. The Israeli military said yesterday that it had confirmed that Hamas was holding 155 people hostage, an increase from its previous 126 estimate.

DIPLOMACY-

  • A congressional junket. Yeah. That’s the solution: US senators are trying to rescue normalization talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel and will head to the Middle East in the “coming days” to encourage the two countries to continue with the process. Several reports in the international press, including in AFP and Reuters, reported last week that the Saudis have paused the discussions due to the war.
  • The UN: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Hamas to immediately release Israeli hostages and Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, warning that the region is “on the verge of the abyss.”
  • The EU: “We strongly emphasize Israel’s right to defend itself in line with humanitarian and international law,” the EU said in a statement calling on Hamas to release the hostages.
  • Russia: Russian president Vladimir Putin has compared Israel’s blockade of Gaza to Nazi Germany’s siege of Leningrad (modern day St. Petersburg) during the Second World War, which killed more than 1 mn Russians.

SPEAKING OF REGIONAL CONTAGION…

Clashes on Israel’s northern borders are escalating: Israeli jets bombed several targets in Lebanon yesterday after armed groups launched missiles into northern Israel. Hezbollah fighters attacked several Israeli army posts and a village, injuring five, while rocket fire hit the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.

Iran is now warning the US, as well as Israel: “If the scope of the war expands, significant damages will also be inflicted upon America,” Iranian media reported Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as telling Al Jazeera yesterday.

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