Egypt could be on track to open the Rafah border crossing tomorrow and allow a limited number of trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza, US President Joe Biden told reporters yesterday. Egypt “agreed to … let up to 20 trucks through to begin with,” Biden said following conversations with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi (Egyptian and US readouts here) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu had earlier signaled Israel could relent on its total siege: “Israel will not prevent humanitarian assistance from Egypt as long as it is only food, water and medicine … as long as these supplies do not reach Hamas,” the prime minister’s office said following the meeting with Biden yesterday. Israel has imposed a total blockade on the strip for the past 10 days, triggering a shortage of water and food and leaving hospitals on the verge of collapse.

Why the wait? Biden said that the aid convoy would not be able to enter immediately due to damage on the Gaza side of the border. The Israeli military has bombed the border crossing several times over the past week.

Yes, but:

  • Netanyahu’s statement made no mention of allowing fuel into the strip, which is vital for keeping hospitals operational. There has also been no talk of localized ceasefires to protect aid workers, putting them at risk of Israeli airstrikes.
  • Neither the Egyptians or the Israelis have corroborated Biden’s statements.Ittihadiya’s readout of the conversation mentioned said the two leaders had discussed the delivery of aid but didn’t specify a timeframe or a quantity.

No word on foreign nationals: Securing an exit from Gaza for its foreign nationals has been one of Washington’s top priorities in recent days, a point that Egyptian officials said they would only agree to if Israel allows aid to enter.

NO ETHNIC CLEANSING –El-Sisi

El Sisi yesterday reiterated his opposition to settling Gazan refugees in Egypt, saying it would end the chances of a Palestinian state and create new security issues for Egypt and Israel. “What is happening now in Gaza is an attempt to force civilian residents to migrate to Egypt, which should not be accepted,” he said at a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (watch, runtime: 18:40). “The displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt means the same displacement will take place for Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan,” and a Palestinian state will become “impossible to implement,” he said.

Remember: His comments are the latest public pushback against pressure from Israeli and our Western allies to allow Gazans to seek refuge in the Sinai as the humanitarian crisis intensifies. At least 1 mn people have now been forced out of their homes.

Has Israel heard of the Negev? “If there is an idea to displace the Palestinians, then there is the Negev Desert in Israel,” El Sisi said. “They can transport Palestinians there until Israel implements its announced plan to destroy Hamas.”

A message: Egyptians will “go out and protest in their mns [at the displacement of Palestinians] if called upon to do so,” he warned.

SPEAKING OF PROTESTS IN EGYPT-

The National Dialogue has called for a mass protest tomorrow in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Nasr City, asking that people join the protest after Friday prayers. A statement (pdf) sent to reporters last night noted that the rally would underscore that Egyptians will “defend the security and interest of their homeland” and that we will back the people of Palestine “until they obtain their legitimate rights,” including “the establishment of their own independent state on their territories before 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

The rare official call for a protest came after thousands of protesters took to the streets in governorates and universities across the country yesterday in response to the hospital bombing. Students at the universities of Cairo (watch runtime: 2:25), Alexandria (watch, runtime: 1:59), Minya (watch, runtime: 1:40) and others gathered to denounce Israel’s actions in Gaza, while the Journalists’ Syndicate held a large protest in downtown Cairo (watch, runtime: 0:44). Demonstrations took place in Sixth of October (watch, runtime: 0:10), Ismailia (watch, runtime: 2:19) and elsewhere.

  • Israeli embassy evacuated:Israeli media have reported that the country has withdrawn its ambassador from Cairo and evacuated all embassy staff in anticipation of protests.
  • The US embassy issued a warning to American nationals about possible demonstrations in the coming days.

Protests have taken place across the region, including in the West Bank, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and Tunisia.

HOSPITAL BOMBING-

The death toll of Tuesday’s bombing of the Al Ahli Arab Hospital now stands at 471 people, with a further 314 wounded, according to updated figures from the Palestinian health ministry. Reports in the hours immediately after the attacks had put the figure in the range of 300 and 500 deaths.

Biden said the US has intelligence that “the other team” was responsible, while a White House spokesperson said yesterday that satellite imagery and open-source information led it to determine that “Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital.” Israel, which has brought hospitals under fire in previous conflicts with Hamas, said that a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad caused the explosion, and released audio that it claimed showed two Gaza fighters discussing the incident.

No one is buying it in the Arab world: Arab leaders hold Israel responsible for the attack, and will not trust the narrative coming out of Tel Aviv and Washington until an independent investigation is held, Jordan’s foreign minister told NBC News yesterday. Arab leaders, including Israel’s closest allies in the region, universally blamed it for the attack and condemned its war in the strongest terms yet.

US UNMOVED-

A rhetorical shift from Biden? Only if you squint… Biden’s trip to Israel didn’t involve much of a shift in messaging from Washington, though there were oblique references to Israel acting outside of international law and the depth of hatred in Israel towards the Palestinians. For the most part though, the trip served to reaffirm his administration’s support for Israel’s war effort and will do little to calm the escalating tensions with the Arab world. Netanyahu summed it up after the talks: “In our meeting today, we agreed on actions that will ensure the continuation of our just war.”

US blocks call for a ceasefire, claiming it would disrupt diplomacy: The US yesterday vetoeda UN Security Council resolution that would have called for a temporary ceasefire to allow the entrance of humanitarian aid. The US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, suggested that the resolution would have undercut current diplomatic initiatives and criticized it for not mentioning Israel’s right to self-defense. The US was the only one of the council’s 15 members to vote it down, with Russia and the UK abstaining and the rest voting in favor. The council had earlier blocked Russian amendments that called for an “immediate, durable and full ceasefire.”

The US is sending more aid (in a particularly lopsided manner):

  • For the Israelis: USD 10 bn, according to Biden administration insiders.
  • For the Palestinians: USD 100 mn.
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