TEL AVIV (Reuters): Israeli forces continued their air assault on Gaza, while both British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden made visits to demonstrate support for Israel and discuss the ongoing conflict with Hamas. Speaking after a meeting with Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the PM said the Palestinian people were “victims of Hamas too”.
Sunak was speaking alongside his counterpart ahead of their closed-door meeting on Thursday, as the UK prime minister joined a procession of foreign leaders visiting Israel in a bid to prevent the conflict from widening. Sunak said he welcomes Israel “taking every precaution” to avoid harming civilians in Gaza and that the UK is boosting aid. “We absolutely support Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law, to go after Hamas, to take back hostages,” Sunak said.
He repeated the UK supported Israel’s right to self-defence, in line with international law. Borrowing a phrase from Britain’s leader during World War Two, Sir Winston Churchill, Netanyahu said the Hamas attack was “our darkest hour” and “the world’s darkest hour”. Mr Sunak said: “I’m proud to stand here with you in Israel’s darkest hour as your friend. “We will stand with you in solidarity, we will stand with your people. And we also want you to win.”
Mr Netanyahu said Israel needed “continual support” for a “long war”. The meeting between the two leaders is part of a two-day visit by Mr Sunak to the wider region. No 10 has confirmed he will visit Saudi Arabia later on Thursday, among trips to regional capitals. Calling the Palestinian militant group the “new Nazis,” the Israeli PM called the conflict with Hamas a “battle of the entire civilised world”. World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Israel to allow fuel to be taken into the Gaza Strip, alongside the first deliveries of water, food and medicine.
“We welcome Israel’s announcement that it will not block the entry of water, food and medicines into Gaza from Egypt. Fuel is also needed for hospital generators, ambulances and desalination plants – and we urge Israel to add fuel to the life-saving supplies allowed to enter Gaza,” Tedros told a press conference. President Biden pledged to assist Israel’s defence and consoled the survivors of the recent Hamas attack that killed 1,400 people in southern Israel. However, his efforts to persuade Israel to ease the situation in Gaza, where 2.3 million people are under total siege, had limited success. Biden announced an offer from Egypt to allow 20 aid trucks into Gaza in the coming days, though this falls far short of the 100 trucks per day that the United Nations deemed necessary.
Equipment to repair roads on the Gaza side for aid transport was sent through the Egyptian crossing, but over 100 trucks were still waiting on the Egyptian side, expected to cross on Friday. While Israel agreed to allow limited aid from Egypt into Gaza, it maintained that aid from its own territory would only be permitted once the more than 200 hostages taken by the Hamas gunmen were released. Israel also stated there would be no halt in its bombing campaign, pledging to strike and destroy every location where Hamas had a presence.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived in Tel Aviv after President Biden’s departure, delivering similar messages of support and condolences for Israelis. He expressed solidarity with the Israeli people, emphasising that the United Kingdom stood with them in the wake of the recent terrorist attack. Inside Gaza, health officials reported that the bombings had killed nearly 3,500 people and wounded over 12,000.
The destruction was widespread, with entire areas reduced to rubble. The situation has caused widespread suffering and displaced approximately half of Gaza’s population, making it one of the most densely populated places on Earth.
The ongoing conflict and the suffering of Gaza’s civilians have stirred outrage in the Middle East, complicating efforts by Western leaders to rally Arab support to prevent the conflict from spreading. President Biden’s plans to meet with Arab leaders were disrupted by an explosion at a Gaza hospital on the eve of his visit, leading to the cancellation of a summit. Palestinians attributed the explosion to an Israeli airstrike, while Israel claimed it resulted from a failed rocket launch by Palestinian fighters.
Protests erupted across the region, and President Biden, who spoke to Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi by phone on his return flight, emphasised that US evidence supported the Israeli account of the hospital explosion. Egypt has stated that its Gaza crossing is open on its side but remains inaccessible due to Israeli bombardments. Cairo has also rejected the idea of opening the border for a mass exodus of Gazans.
The situation remains complex, with efforts to provide humanitarian aid, negotiate a ceasefire, and address the needs of the civilian population in Gaza continuing as the conflict rages on. Israel has bombed and targeted areas with bakeries in Gaza over the course of the war while dozens of Palestinians were lining up to buy bread, causing high numbers of dead and wounded, Salam Marouf, the head of the government media office, said in a statement.
By repeatedly targeting bakeries, he said that Israel sought to worsen the humanitarian situation, inflict a greater number of casualties and “make it more difficult for citizens, to the point that obtaining some loaves of bread has become a dangerous journey.” More than five bakeries were targeted in different areas to the north and south of Gaza, either directly or in the area where they are located, Maarouf said.
Aid groups, including the World Food Program, have warned Gaza is running low on food supplies with shops only having a few days worth of supplies left. More are available in warehouses run by humanitarian organizations, but these are hard to reach because of constant bombardment.
Meanwhile, the leaders of Egypt and Jordan have condemned Israel’s “collective punishment” policy against Palestinians in Gaza and its efforts to displace “Palestinians from their lands to Egypt or Jordan.” King Abdullah and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Thursday discussed the military escalation in Gaza during their talks in Cairo.
Sunak tells Netanyahu ‘we want you to win’
