Aid could arrive in Gaza starting Friday, Biden says, as calls for a ceasefire grow : NPR

Men carry out the body of a victim from a building in Rafah in the southern of Gaza Strip as the Israeli bombardment continued Thursday.

Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

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Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

Men carry out the body of a victim from a building in Rafah in the southern of Gaza Strip as the Israeli bombardment continued Thursday.

Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

JERUSALEM — The first shipments of humanitarian aid could begin to arrive in the Gaza Strip as soon as Friday, nearly two weeks after the start of a punishing Israeli bombardment campaign targeted at the militant group Hamas.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza has grown dire, aid groups say. Friday’s delivery, if it takes place, would be the first since Israel halted the flow of food, water, electricity and fuel to the territory earlier this month, in retaliation for a wave of attacks by Hamas on Israeli towns near Gaza.

The deal was announced by President Biden late Wednesday after a visit to Israel, during which he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and later spoke by phone with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Israel says it will not lift its siege until Hamas has released some 200 hostages the group is believed to be holding.

That has left only Egypt’s Rafah border crossing, where trucks carrying some 3,000 tons of food, water and medicine are “awaiting” Egypt’s approval to enter, the United Nations says.

Officials hope that up to 20 trucks of aid could enter Gaza Friday after roads damaged by airstrikes have been repaired, Biden told reporters. Dozens more trucks will continue to standby until another agreement has been reached.

It is unclear if any fuel would be included in the shipment. With Gaza’s main power plant unable to operate, aid groups say fuel is badly needed to power desalination and wastewater plants, along with hospital generators.

Of concern has been the ability of the United Nations to distribute aid to civilians without the interference of Hamas — a challenge that has long vexed those seeking to aid Gazans. If Hamas “doesn’t let it get through or just confiscates it, then it’s going to end,” Biden said of the aid.

On the Gaza side of the Rafah border, thousands of people have gathered in hopes of being allowed to exit the territory and escape the conflict. Israel has repeated its call for Palestinians to evacuate from northern Gaza to so-called safe zones in the southern part of the territory, ahead of a widely expected ground invasion. But Israeli bombardment has continued in southern Gaza, too.

As many as 600 U.S. citizens are thought to be trapped in Gaza, U.S. officials say, but it was unclear whether any people would be allowed out if the border opens on Friday.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continued Thursday in retaliation for a wave of Hamas attacks launched earlier this month that officials say left 1,400 people dead.

Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

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Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continued Thursday in retaliation for a wave of Hamas attacks launched earlier this month that officials say left 1,400 people dead.

Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

For 13 days, Israeli airstrikes have pummeled the Strip, leveling buildings and damaging infrastructure. More than 1 million Palestinians — roughly half of the territory’s population — are estimated to have left their homes to seek shelter in central or southern Gaza, according to the United Nations. Palestinian officials say that Israeli airstrikes have destroyed more than 4,800 residential buildings in Gaza and damaged more than 120,000 housing units.

Calls for a cease-fire have mounted since an explosion at the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, the cause of which remains in dispute. Reports of the death toll have varied; Gaza’s Ministry of Health says the blast killed more than 470 people, most of whom were patients at the hospital or people who had come to the hospital’s courtyard to seek a safe place to stay.

The explosion sparked protests across the region, including in the occupied West Bank, where three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces overnight.

On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for an “immediate cease-fire” in order to facilitate Hamas’s release of the hostages and for Israel to allow unrestricted access to aid.

Guterres is expected to arrive in Cairo Thursday as part of a wave of diplomatic efforts to address the crisis; British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was set to arrive in Israel Thursday to meet Netanyahu, and French leader Emmanuel Macron was expected to follow in the coming days.

About 1,400 people in Israel have been killed in the conflict, most of them on Oct. 7, Israeli officials say. Palestinian health officials say that the death toll in Gaza has reached 3,478, along with more than 60 dead in the West Bank.

Biden is expected to give an Oval Office address on the conflict Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.