According to Biden, Hamas attacks disrupt Saudi-Israeli relations. An AFP report citing TV footage broadcasted on Egyptian television on Saturday reported that trucks carrying relief supplies had begun crossing the border into the besieged Gaza Strip.
In a statement earlier, a humanitarian worker and a security source said that border guards had been stationed on the Egyptian side of the crossing, and that vehicles with medication were being prepared to be driven into Gaza by Egyptian border guards.
According to a statement issued by Hamas, a convoy of 20 relief trucks with food and medical supplies was expected to arrive in the Gaza Strip from Egypt on Saturday after a convoy of 20 trucks carrying relief supplies had left Egypt.
Hamas’ media office said on Saturday that a relief aid convoy that is supposed to enter the country today includes 20 trucks carrying medicine, medical supplies, and a limited amount of food supplies (canned goods), according to a statement from Hamas’ media office.
In addition to that, Egyptian TV also showed trucks that had been waiting for days to cross the border from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula entering the border crossing area.
Hamas has released two American hostages in Gaza offering hope to desperation-stricken families, as Israel pounded blockaded Gaza after Hamas took over 200 people hostage and killed at least 1,400 people, most of whom were civilians, when it stormed into Israeli towns on October 7.
Although hostages have been released from Gaza, Israel has continued to pound the territory despite the release of hostages.
In the opinion of Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the release of Judith Raanan and Natalie Raanan, mothers and daughters, offers hope to Israelis amid uncertainty about the fate of other hostages. At the same time, US President Joe Biden rejoiced at the recent development while millions of Gazans are left homeless as a result.
Following Biden’s visit to Israel earlier this month to express solidarity with Gaza and to demand humanitarian aid, the hostages were released.
Several weeks after the release of the hostages, Israel pledged to destroy Hamas, after the group killed around 1,500 Israeli fighters in recent violent clashes between the two sides.
Furthermore, Biden said Friday he believes that the attack was motivated partly by Saudi Arabia’s plan to recognize Israel, according to AFP.
According to the Gaza health ministry, Israel has destroyed entire city blocks in Gaza in order to carry out its military campaign, resulting in over 4,000 Palestinian martyrs, most of whom are civilians and children.
It has been reported that Israeli soldiers are preparing for a planned ground invasion of Gaza, despite the potential risks, which include Israelis as well as people around the world who are being held captive by Hamas in the region that is being relentlessly bombed by the Israeli military.
In the midst of relentless Israeli air strikes, Hamas releases hostages
As part of his assurance to the released hostages, Vice President Biden thanked Qatar for its mediation in securing the release of the hostages. In spite of the fact that there was no immediate information about the health of the other hostages, he pledged his tireless efforts to win their release.
The half-brother of Natalie Raanan, Ben, told BBC that he felt an “overwhelming sense of joy” regarding the release of his sister after “the most horrific ordeal ever.”
There was a statement from Hamas that Egypt and Qatar had negotiated the release and that it was “working with all mediators to implement the movement’s decision to close the civilian (hostage) file if appropriate security conditions allow it to be done”.
Despite the fact that there is little information about the hostages, the Israeli military said on Friday that “the majority” of them are still alive, and thousands of grieving families have called for more action to be taken.
Israeli jets continued to bomb Hamas targets in Gaza over the course of the night in a relentless campaign, with the military claiming that it had hit more than 100 Hamas targets in the past 24 hours.
In the northern Gaza Strip, where Palestinian civilians have been ordered to leave for their own safety by Israel, witnesses heard loud explosions and saw plumes of smoke billowing from it.
There is no doubt that Israel will fight until victory is achieved
In the immediate aftermath of Hamas freeing two US hostages in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he would “fight until victory” in the territory, indicating that the Israeli military’s offensive and anticipated invasion of the territory would continue without interruption.
There is no doubt that since Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel and killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped almost 200 others, they are the first hostages to be released that have been verified by both sides of the conflict.
“Two of our abductees have arrived home. We are not giving up on our effort to return all abducted and missing people to their families,” Netanyahu said in a statement released late Friday night.
At the same time, he added, “we will continue to fight until the day of victory comes.”
According to Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, speaking in front of a parliamentary committee, achieving Israel’s objectives would not be a simple or quick undertaking.
In the next phase, we will topple Hamas’ organization. We will destroy its military and governing infrastructure. It is a phase that will not be easy, but it will have a cost. “Gallant said.
As he continued, the next phase would be more time-consuming, but he said that the objective would be to achieve a “completely different security situation” with no threat to Israel from Gaza in the future. There is nowhere near a day, there isn’t a week, and unfortunately there isn’t even a month to go,” he explained.
Normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia
In his remarks on Friday, President Biden hinted that Hamas’s unexpected attack on Friday was meant to sabotage Riyadh’s efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the event that normalisation occurs.
During a campaign fundraiser, Vice President Biden stated that Saudi Arabia wished to recognize Israel as a state.
According to Riyadh, the Palestinian statehood goal should come before any other issue, saying that it should be put first in the interests of the region.
There are several reasons why Hamas moved on Israel, including the fact that they knew I was about to sit with the Saudis, Biden said. You’ll be surprised to learn that the Saudis wanted to recognize Israel.
During his June trip to Riyadh, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was particularly concerned about the possibility of normalizing relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and other Arab states, although he acknowledged that no immediate progress should be expected.
In an interview with CNN on October 8, Blinken claimed that one of the motivations (for the attack) could well have been to disrupt efforts to bind Saudi Arabia and Israel together, which would not be a surprise.
It was stated by Vice President Biden in an interview that aired on CBS’ 60 Minutes last Sunday that the prospects of normalization were still alive, but they would require time and patience.
It’s a matter of life and death
According to UN estimates, there are approximately 2.4 million Palestinians living in the densely populated enclave, of which almost half have fled their homes. Water, electricity, fuel and food supplies have been cut off to the long-blockaded territory by Israel as a result of the blockade.
The UN chief, Antonio Guterres, warned on Friday that the humanitarian aid that is stuck in Egypt could mean the difference between life and death for so many Gazans.
It has been reported that World Health Organization emergency director Michael Ryan said that Biden’s deal for an initial 20 truck delivery was merely “a drop in the ocean of need” and that 2,000 more are needed.
It is estimated that at least 30% of Gaza’s homes have been destroyed or damaged, according to the United Nations, citing local authorities, and that thousands of Gazans have taken refuge in a tent city located in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis.
According to Fadwa al-Najjar, she and her seven children walked for ten hours in order to reach the camp, at some points breaking into a run as air strikes descended around them and causing them to run for safety.
As she recalls, when they saw bodies and limbs being torn off, they just started praying and said that they could die at any minute, thinking that they would die. Malak, the daughter of the deceased, said, “I would have preferred not to leave, to have stayed at home and died there, if I could have.”.
A day, a week, or a month are not going to be enough time to complete Israel’s operation, according to Yoav Gallant, the country’s minister of defense, who warned Friday that Israel’s responsibilities in Gaza will end once the operation is completed.
In a report by the AFP news agency, an Israeli foreign ministry source said Israel was considering “handing over the keys” to Egypt, after the country rejected a proposal to take responsibility for Gaza’s residents, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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