As many as seven Egyptian troops were injured when an Israeli tank opened fire on a border postnear the Egypt-Gaza border, the Egyptian and Israeli militaries said yesterday. “An IDF tank accidentally fired and hit an Egyptian post adjacent to the border in the area of Kerem Shalom,” the Israeli Defense Forces wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) yesterday evening. A medical source and a witness said that seven were injured and taken to hospital, Reuters reported.

An apology: A spokesperson for the Egyptian military later said some soldiers received “minor injuries” after the border post was struck by “fragments of a shell” from an Israeli tank. The statement did not confirm how many were wounded or elaborate on what happened. The IDF “expressed sorrow” over the incident and said it is investigating what happened.

The attack came soon after a second aid convoy crossed into Gaza, according to Reuters, which reported hearing an explosion and the sound of ambulances.

Some commentators were dubious about how accidental the attack was: “The message was received. Egypt will not stop the aid and will not leave the Palestinians,” El Hekaya host Amr Adib wrote on social media. “Wait for the Egyptian actions that will also be mistaken.” Later on his show, Adib warned that the incident threatens peace between the two countries. “[Israel’s] credit is running out,” he said. “Do not mess around with the Egyptians in this matter and wait for an accidental response” (watch, runtime: 3:42 | 3:09).

A SECOND CONVOY ENTERS GAZA-

Another 14 trucks cleared the Rafah border crossing yesterday carrying vital supplies of food, water and medical aid into Gaza, the UN confirmed yesterday. This was the second delivery in two days after a first convoy of 20 trucks entered the territory on Saturday.

A third, larger convoy will make the trip today: A convoy of 40 trucks will enter the strip today, Al Arabiya reported last night, citing what it said are Egyptian sources.

This is still far, far too little: UN officials say that at least 100 trucks are needed every day to ease the humanitarian crisis in the enclave, which has been subjected to a total siege by the Israelis for two weeks. Medical supplies are running dangerously low, shortages of food and water are growing worse, and hospitals are on the verge of collapse with Israel continuing to prevent fuel from entering.

Regular aid deliveries from tomorrow? That’s according to US humanitarian envoy David Satterfield, who was appointed by the Biden administration last week to oversee the delivery of aid to Gaza. “Our expectations and the substance of our discussion with all sides is that starting tomorrow you’ll be seeing a continuous flow of assistance moving,” he said in a televised interview yesterday (watch, runtime: 1:35).

MORE PROTESTS: The Egyptian Bar Association held a rally in support of the Palestinians yesterday in downtown Cairo. The organization is planning to send an aid convoy to Gaza.

The death toll: More than 4,650 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since it started its military campaign on 7 October, 40% of them are children, according to the latest figures from the Gaza Health Ministry. Almost 14,250 people have been wounded.

ESCALATION IN GAZA-

Ground invasion delayed on hostage hopes: Israel is holding off on its ground offensive while US officials put pressure on the Qataris to use their relationship with Hamas to negotiate the release of more hostages, according to Bloomberg. Hamas on Saturday released the first two hostages for what it claimed were “humanitarian reasons.”

Gaza City civilians could be targeted, IDF hints: Israel has told residents of Gaza City they could be seen as terrorist sympathizers if they refuse to flee their homes and move to the south of the territory, according to Reuters. “Whoever chooses not to leave north Gaza to the south of Wadi Gaza might be identified as an accomplice in a terrorist organization,” the Israeli military wrote on leaflets and sent in text messages yesterday. The warning came a day after Israel said it would escalate its bombing campaign ahead of a potential ground offensive.

Remember:More than 600k people have fled the city after Israel warned them last week about an imminent ground invasion. The city was home to more than 1 mn people before the war and is the enclave’s most densely-populated urban area. Israel’s displacement of hundreds of thousands of people to the south of the enclave — in the direction of the border with Egypt — has stoked anger among Egyptian officials, who see the move as intended to pressure Cairo to open the border and allow Israel to ethnically cleanse the territory.

More extreme rhetoric: The Israeli military’s “civilians in Gaza City = terrorists” calculus echoes statements by Israeli President Isaac Herzog last week, in which he suggested that the entire population of Gaza is a legitimate target.

ESCALATION IN THE REGION-

US officials are trying to prevent Israeli hawks from starting new fires: The Biden administration is putting pressure on Netanyahu’s cabinet not to trigger a full-scale war with Hezbollah in Lebanon amid support among some Israeli hawks for a pre-emptive strike, the New York Times reported Friday.

The pressure seems to be changing minds in Tel Aviv:“The intent now is to block and contain the northern arena, not to escalate it, not to go to a full war,” a senior Israeli security official told the Guardian, adding that whether the clashes increase will depend on Hezbollah. Netanyahu yesterday threatened to “devastate” Lebanon should the Iran-backed Shia militia launch a full-scale attack against Israel.

Though tensions on the border aren’t getting any calmer: Netanyahu’s comments came during a visit to Israeli troops on the country’s northern border with Lebanon, where cross-border clashes have been increasing in intensity. Hezbollah yesterday said that another five of its soldiers had been killed, taking its total losses over the past two weeks to 24, while Israel evacuated more villages close to the border in anticipation of further violence.

The Biden administration is anticipating a “significant escalation of attacks” on the US military, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said yesterday, amid fury in the region about its backing of Israel’s brutal war. US troops in Iraq and Syria came under attack at the weekend, while a US warship downed several missiles in the Red Sea apparently fired from Yemen. The country yesterday said it would withdraw all non-essential staff from its embassy in Baghdad.

MUST READ- The US is moving a second aircraft carrier battle group to the East Med, writes former UK Royal Navy captain Tom Sharpe for the Telegraph, noting that the unusual display of power — one carrier battle group is typically more than enough — underscores how serious the situation is right now, from the viewpoint of DC. A carrier battle group is “most-defended bit of real estate on the planet” and a platform to deliver everything from “intelligence gathering, through humanitarian support right up to high-end warfighting,” Sharpe writes. Read: The US Navy is preparing for combat ops on a scale not seen for many years.

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