Washington:

A temporary US aid pier has again been removed from the Gaza coast due to high seas and will be towed to an Israeli port, the Pentagon said on Friday.

It is the third time the pier has been detached from the shore because of weather conditions since its initial installation in mid-May, and the effort is also facing difficulties with distribution of assistance once it reaches Gaza.

“Due to high sea states expected this weekend, Central Command has removed the temporary pier from its anchored position in Gaza and will tow it back to Ashdod, Israel,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists, referring to the military command responsible for the Middle East.

She said she does not have a date for the pier’s reinstallation, and that “the commander will continue to assess the sea states over the weekend.”

The pier was first anchored to the Gaza coast in mid-May, but was damaged by bad weather later in the month and had to be removed for repairs.

It was then reattached on June 7, but was moved to Ashdod on June 14 to protect it from anticipated high seas — a situation that is now being repeated.

When the pier has been operational, it has been used to deliver a large amount of aid to the shore.

“Since May 17, Central Command has assisted in the delivery of more than 8,831 metric tons, or approximately 19.4 million pounds, of humanitarian aid to the shore for onward distribution by humanitarian organizations,” Singh said.

But distribution has been a problem, with the UN World Food Program suspending its deliveries of assistance that arrive via the pier earlier this month to assess the security situation.

The move came after Israel conducted a military operation nearby that freed four hostages, but which Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry said killed more than 270 Palestinians.

As a result, aid is piling up in the marshalling yard where it is delivered onshore.

“There’s still some room there, but it’s, I would say majority is pretty full right now,” Singh said.

Gaza is suffering through a war which broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The operatives also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza although the army says 42 are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,765 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in Gaza.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Palestinians carry the body of a person killed in an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, May 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

New divisions have emerged among Israel’s leaders over post-war Gaza’s governance, with an unexpected Hamas fightback in parts of the Palestinian territory piling pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli Army has been battling Hamas militants across Gaza for more than seven months while also exchanging near-daily fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah forces along the northern border with Lebanon.

But after Hamas fighters regrouped in northern Gaza, where Israel previously said the group had been neutralised, broad splits emerged in the Israeli war cabinet in recent days.

Mr. Netanyahu came under personal attack from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for failing to rule out an Israeli government in Gaza after the war.

The Israeli Premier’s outright rejection of post-war Palestinian leadership in Gaza has broken a rift among top politicians wide open and frustrated relations with top ally the United States.

Experts say the lack of clarity only serves to benefit Hamas, whose leader has insisted no new authority can be established in the territory without its involvement.

“Without an alternative to fill the vacuum, Hamas will continue to grow,” International Crisis Group analyst Mairav Zonszein said.

Emmanuel Navon, a lecturer at Tel Aviv University, echoed this sentiment.

“If only Hamas is left in Gaza, of course they are going to appear here and there and the Israeli Army will be forced to chase them around,” Mr. Navon said.

“Either you establish an Israeli military government or an Arab-led government.”

U.S. pressure

Mr. Gallant said in a televised address on Wednesday: “I call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a decision and declare that Israel will not establish civilian control over the Gaza strip.”

The Premier’s war planning also came under recent attack by Army chief Herzi Halevi as well as top Shin Bet security agency officials, according to Israeli media reports.

Mr. Netanyahu is also under pressure from Washington to swiftly bring an end to the conflict and avoid being mired in a long counterinsurgency campaign.

Washington has previously called for a “revitalised” form of the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza after the war.

But Mr. Netanyahu has rejected any role for the PA in post-war Gaza, saying on Thursday that it “supports terror, educates terror, finances terror”.

Instead, Mr. Netanyahu has clung to his steadfast aim of “eliminating” Hamas, asserting that “there’s no alternative to military victory”.

Experts say confidence in Mr. Netanyahu is running thin.

“With Gallant’s criticism of Netanyahu’s failure to plan for the day after in terms of governing Gaza, some real fissures are beginning to emerge in the Israeli war cabinet,” Colin P. Clarke, director of policy and research at the Soufan Group think tank, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“I’m not sure I know of many people, including the most ardent Israel supporters, who have confidence in Bibi,” he said, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

Hostage ‘impasse’

The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The militants also seized about 250 hostages, 125 of whom Israel estimates remain in Gaza, including 37 the military says are dead.

Israel’s military retaliation has killed at least 35,386 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry, and an Israeli siege has brought dire food shortages and the threat of famine.

Many Israelis supported Netanyahu’s blunt goals to seek revenge on Hamas in the aftermath of the October 7 attack.

But now, hopes have faded for the return of the hostages and patience in Netanyahu may be running out, experts said.

On Friday, the army announced it had recovered bodies of three hostages who were killed during the October 7 attack.

After Israeli forces entered the far southern city of Rafah, where more than a million displaced Gazans were sheltering, talks mediated by Egypt, the United States and Qatar to release the hostages have ground to a standstill.

“The hostage deal is at a total impasse — you can no longer provide the appearance of progress,” said Zonszein of the International Crisis Group.

“Plus the breakdown with the U.S. and the fact that Egypt has refused to pass aid through Rafah — all those things are coming to a head.”

London:

There is only enough fuel to run health services in the south of Gaza for three more days, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge in the south of Gaza from combat further north in the Palestinian enclave. Israel has threatened a major assault on the southern city of Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are holed up there, and its troops are now battling the Islamist group on Rafah’s outskirts.

The WHO said a delivery of fuel to the area had been denied on Wednesday. It also said that Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah was already no longer functional, one of three hospitals in the city. Some of its equipment has been moved to field hospitals, WHO said.

“WHO has pre-positioned some supplies in warehouses and hospitals, but without more aid flowing into Gaza, we cannot sustain our life-saving support to hospitals,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that WHO would remain in the area to provide health services.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A map illustrating a part of the Gaza Strip regarding the killing of 7 aid workers in an Israeli army strike, being a part of a report the army published today, following their investigation, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in this handout picture released on April 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The Israeli military said on April 5 that it dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in drone strikes in Gaza that killed seven aid workers on a food-delivery mission, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the Army’s rules of engagement.

The findings of a retired general’s investigation into the Monday killings marked an embarrassing admission by Israel, which faces growing accusations from key allies, including the U.S., of not doing enough to protect Gaza’s civilians from its war with Hamas.

The findings are likely to renew skepticism over the Israeli military’s decision-making. Palestinians, aid groups and human rights organizations have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of firing recklessly at civilians throughout the conflict — a charge Israel denies.

“It’s a tragedy,” the military’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, told reporters. “It’s a serious event that we are responsible for and it shouldn’t have happened and we will make sure that it won’t happen again.”

With pressure mounting on Israel to hold itself accountable, Adm. Hagari and other officials late on April 4 shared with reporters the results of the investigation.

The speed of the probe and the swift punishment of five senior officers were extremely unusual. Investigations into suspected wrongdoing by soldiers and officers are often slow and in most cases end without charges being filed. Human rights activists have long complained that Israeli forces operate in a climate of impunity, an allegation the military rejects.

Still, it was unclear whether the punishments and the apology would calm an international outcry over the deaths of the World Central Kitchen workers or reassure international aid groups that it was safe to resume operations in Gaza, where nearly a third of the population is on the brink of starvation.

The food charity called the investigation and disciplinary actions “important steps forward” — but noted the probe itself found that the army didn’t follow its own protocols.

“Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families,” the statement read, repeating a call for an independent investigation.

According to what spokespeople said were the Israeli Army’s rules, targets must be visually identified as threats for multiple reasons before they can be hit. But the investigation determined that a colonel had authorized the series of deadly drone strikes on the convoy based on one major’s observation — from grainy drone-camera footage — that someone in the convoy was armed. That observation turned out to be untrue, military officials said.

The Army said the colonel and the major were dismissed, while three other officers were reprimanded, the most senior of whom was the head of the Southern Command. It said the results of its investigation were turned over to the military’s advocate general, who will decide whether the officers or anyone else involved in the killings should receive further punishment or be prosecuted.

“The strike on the aid vehicles is a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures,” the army send in a statement when it released the findings.

The killings were condemned by Israel’s closest allies and renewed criticism of Israel’s conduct in the nearly 6-month-old war with Hamas.

Those killed were three British citizens, a Polish citizen, an Australian, a Canadian American dual citizen and a Palestinian, all of whom worked for World Central Kitchen, the international charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés.

The investigation found two major areas of wrongdoing.

It faulted officers for failing to read messages alerting troops that cars, not aid trucks, would carry workers from the charity away from the warehouse where aid was distributed. As a result, the cars that were targeted were misidentified as transporting militants.

The Army also faulted a major who identified the strike target and a colonel who approved the strike for acting with insufficient information.

The Army said the order was given after one of the passengers inside a car was identified as a gunman. It said troops became suspicious because a gunman had been seen on the roof of one of the delivery trucks on the way to the warehouse.

The Army showed reporters footage of the gunman firing his weapon while riding atop one of the trucks — video that The Associated Press could not independently verify.

After the aid was dropped off at a warehouse, an officer believed he had spotted a gunman in one of the cars. The passenger, it turned out, was not carrying a weapon — the military said it’s possible he was just carrying a bag.

The Army said it initially hit one car. As people scrambled away into a second car, it hit that vehicle as well. It did the same thing when survivors scrambled into a third car. Army officials claimed that drone operators could not see that the cars were marked with the words “World Central Kitchen” because it was nighttime.

The Army could not say exactly where the communication about the convoy’s plans had broken down.

The Army declined to answer questions about whether similar violations of rules of engagement have taken place during the war — in which Palestinians, aid workers and international rights groups have repeatedly accused the Army of recklessly striking civilians.

The investigation was headed by Yoav Har-Even, a retired general.

The seven who were killed were distributing food that had been brought into Gaza through a newly established maritime corridor. World Central Kitchen said it had coordinated its movements with the military, and that the vehicles were marked with the organization’s logo.

“It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by” the Israeli military, Andrés said on Wednesday.

More than 220 humanitarian workers have been killed in the conflict, according to the U.N.

“Let’s be very clear. This is tragic, but it is not an anomaly,” Scott Paul, of the humanitarian group Oxfam, said Thursday in a briefing with other relief organizations before the results of Israel’s investigation were released. “The killing of aid workers in Gaza has been systemic.”

World leaders on Friday called for an investigation and a ceasefire nearly five months into the Gaza war, a day after dozens of desperate Palestinians were killed rushing an aid convoy.

Israeli troops opened fire as Palestinian civilians scrambled for food aid during a chaotic incident on Thursday which the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry said killed more than 100 people in Gaza City.

The deaths came after a World Food Programme official had warned: “If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza.”

The Israeli military said a “stampede” occurred when thousands of Gazans surrounded the convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over.

An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it “posed a threat” .

Gaza’s Health Ministry called it a “massacre” and said 112 people were killed and more than 750 others wounded.

The fatalities helped push the total number of Palestinian war dead in Gaza to 30,228 mostly women and children, according to the ministry’s latest toll.

Overnight Thursday-Friday 83 people were killed in strikes, the Ministry said.

Also read | Gaza Health Ministry says war deaths exceed 30,000 as famine looms

The war began on October 7 with an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.

Israel’s military says 242 soldiers have died in Gaza since ground operations began in late October.

Call for transparency

“The Israeli Army must fully investigate how the mass panic and shooting could have happened,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on social media platform X.

Her French counterpart Stephane Sejourne said “there will have to be an independent probe to determine what happened”, and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani urged Israel “to protect the people in Gaza and to rigorously ascertain facts and responsibilities”.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, also writing on X, said “every effort must be made to investigate what happened and ensure transparency”.

The head of Libya’s Presidential Council, Mohamed el-Manfi, appealed for “an urgent investigation” by the United Nations Security Council into the “unprecedented crime”.

U.S. President Joe Biden — whose country provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel — said Washington was checking “two competing versions” of the incident.

Aerial footage of the incident made clear “just how desperate the situation on the ground is”, a U.S. State Department spokesman said. Washington was pushing Israel to allow in more aid, he said.

Also Read | What a deal between Israel and Hamas could look like

Complicated talks

The Gaza City aid incident came with talks progressing towards a ceasefire, but would now complicate those efforts, Biden said.

The White House later said it had asked Israel to probe the “tremendously alarming” deaths. Deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton said the event “needs to be thoroughly investigated”.

The Foreign Ministry of Gulf emirate Qatar, a mediator in the war, condemned “in the strongest terms the heinous massacre committed by the Israeli occupation” and called for “urgent international action” to halt the fighting in Gaza.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the deaths and reiterated “the need to reach an immediate ceasefire”.

Further afield, in South America, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced the suspension of arms purchases from Israel after the “genocide” in Gaza City.

While the situation is particularly acute in Gaza’s north, Gazans are struggling for food, water and medical care throughout the territory including in far-south Rafah where around 1.4 million people have sought refuge from fighting elsewhere.

Israel is threatening to send in troops against Hamas fighters in Rafah.

Information conflicted on what exactly unfolded in Gaza City.

A witness, declining to be named for safety reasons, said the violence began when thousands of people rushed towards aid trucks, leading soldiers to open fire when “people came too close” to tanks.

Israeli Army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the military had fired “a few warning shots” to try to disperse a “mob” that had “ambushed” the aid trucks.

“Thousands of Gazans” swarmed the trucks, “violently pushing and even trampling other Gazans to death, looting the humanitarian supplies,” he said.

When the crowd got too big, he said the convoy tried to retreat and “the unfortunate incident resulted in dozens of Gazans killed and injured”.

Also read | Rediscovering Palestinian statehood

‘Day from hell’

Aerial images released by the Israeli Army showed what it said were scores of people surrounding aid trucks in the city.

Ali Awad Ashqir, who said he had gone to get some food for his starving family, told AFP he had been waiting for two hours when trucks began to arrive.

“The moment they arrived, the occupation army fired artillery shells and guns,” he said.

Mr. Hagari denied Israeli forces carried out any shelling or strikes at the time.

Looting of aid trucks has previously occurred in northern Gaza, where residents have taken to eating animal fodder and even leaves to stave off starvation.

The chief of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said no UN agency had been involved in Thursday’s aid delivery, and called the incident “another day from hell”.

Among its war aims, Israel says it is fighting to bring home 130 hostages captured by militants on October 7 who remain in Gaza, including 31 presumed dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure over the captives.

On Friday relatives and supporters of the hostages rallied outside the US embassy branch in Tel Aviv in a call for help to secure their release.

At another protest in the city on Thursday night, Alon Lee Green, 36, said things were at a crossroads.

“It’s either we are going into an eternal war that will never stop,” he said, “or we’re going to a diplomatic agreement, an Israeli-Palestinian peace.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers his remarks at the start of the Cabinet meeting amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to continue Israel’s war on Hamas despite suffering “painful losses” in ground fighting inside the Gaza Strip.

“We have so many important achievements, but also painful losses. We know that every soldier of ours is an entire world,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a televised address after the Army confirmed at least 11 soldiers were killed in ground fighting on Tuesday.

The leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, on Wednesday accused Israel of committing “massacres” in the Gaza war to cover its own “defeats”.

Haniyeh, whose Islamist group launched the bloody October 7 attacks on Israel that sparked the Gaza war, accused Israel of “committing barbaric massacres against unarmed civilians”. “Its villainy will not save them from resounding defeat,” he vowed in a speech broadcast by Al Jazeera.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Wednesday that 3,648 children are among 8,796 people killed in Israeli strikes since the war erupted.

The isolated Palestinian enclave, home to 2.3 million people, is in the grip of a severe humanitarian crisis amid a siege imposed by Israel. Over half the population has fled their homes, and supplies of food, medicine, water and fuel are running low. A territory-wide blackout has left hospitals reliant on generators that could shut down soon as Israel has barred all fuel imports.

Israel has been vague about its operations in Gaza, but residents and spokesmen for militant groups say troops appear to be trying to take control of the two main north-south roads.

An estimated 800,000 Palestinians have fled south from Gaza City and other northern areas following Israeli orders to evacuate, but hundreds of thousands remain in the north.

Israel has allowed international aid groups to send more than 200 trucks carrying food and medicine to enter from Egypt over the past 10 days, but aid workers say it’s not nearly enough.

Israel has vowed to crush Hamas’ ability to govern Gaza or threaten it, while also saying it does not plan to reoccupy the territory, from which it withdrew soldiers and settlers in 2005. But it has said little about who would govern Gaza afterwards.

In congressional testimony on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested that “at some point, what would make the most sense is for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza.”

In the latest war between Israel and Hamas, children were targets on both sides. Israel started its heavy bombardment of Gaza, a tiny Mediterranean land strip of 2.3 million people, on October 7 after Hamas, the Islamist militant group that runs the enclave, carried out an unprecedented cross-border raid, killing at least 1,400 Israelis.

Of the victims, 447 were children and 248 were women, according to Israeli authorities. In retaliation, Israel has cut off food, fuel and power supplies to Gaza, laid siege to the enclave and started bombing it disproportionately. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog suggested there are no innocent civilians in Gaza. In the Israeli attacks, in 22 days, at least 7,700 people were killed, some 70% of them women and children.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the toll includes more than 3,500 minors. The Israeli attacks have also turned more than a million people refugees. Israel ordered one million people living in northern Gaza to move towards the south. Since children make up half of Gaza’s population, they are the hardest hit age category by the displacement as well.

Now that Israel launched its ground invasion, many more Palestinians will be killed, wounded and displaced, which means many more children would be victimised.

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Saturday discussed the worsening security and humanitarian situation in West Asia. Both leaders expressed their concern over the increase in terrorism, violence, and civilian casualties in the area, largely owing to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. 

PM Modi and President el-Sisi agreed on the need to quickly restore peace and stability and to provide humanitarian assistance to those who have been affected by the conflict.

“Yesterday, spoke with President @AlsisiOfficial. Exchanged views on the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in West Asia. We share concerns regarding terrorism, violence, and loss of civilian lives. We agree on the need for early restoration of peace and stability and facilitating humanitarian assistance,” PM Modi wrote on X. 

Yesterday, spoke with President @AlsisiOfficial. Exchanged views on the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in West Asia. We share concerns regarding terrorism, violence and loss of civilian lives. We agree on the need for early restoration of peace and stability…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 29, 2023

The two leaders also exchanged views on the latest developments in the “Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip”, a spokesperson for the Egyptian Presidency said.

“President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received a phone call from Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, in which views were exchanged between the two leaders on the latest developments in the Israeli military operations in the Gaza strip, and the danger of continuing the current escalation, whether due to its grave effects on the lives of civilians, or the threat it poses to security,” a Facebook post from the spokersperson read.

The October 7 attack by Hamas killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, in Israel. In retaliation, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed more than 8,000 people, half of them children, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the besieged Palestinian territory has said. 

India on Friday abstained from a UN General Assembly resolution that called for an immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas war, saying that the resolution does not mention Hamas and that the UN needs to send a clear message against terrorism.

“We hope that the deliberations of this assembly will send a clear message against terror and violence and expand prospects for diplomacy and dialogue while addressing the humanitarian crisis that confronts us,” said India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Yojna Patel.

India expressed grave concern over the worsening situation in Gaza and urged both sides to cease hostilities and pursue a peaceful resolution through dialogue.

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Saturday discussed the worsening security and humanitarian situation in West Asia. Both leaders expressed their concern over the increase in terrorism, violence, and civilian casualties in the area, largely owing to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. 

PM Modi and President el-Sisi agreed on the need to quickly restore peace and stability and to provide humanitarian assistance to those who have been affected by the conflict.

“Yesterday, spoke with President @AlsisiOfficial. Exchanged views on the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in West Asia. We share concerns regarding terrorism, violence, and loss of civilian lives. We agree on the need for early restoration of peace and stability and facilitating humanitarian assistance,” PM Modi wrote on X. 

Yesterday, spoke with President @AlsisiOfficial. Exchanged views on the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in West Asia. We share concerns regarding terrorism, violence and loss of civilian lives. We agree on the need for early restoration of peace and stability…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 29, 2023

The two leaders also exchanged views on the latest developments in the “Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip”, a spokesperson for the Egyptian Presidency said.

“President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received a phone call from Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, in which views were exchanged between the two leaders on the latest developments in the Israeli military operations in the Gaza strip, and the danger of continuing the current escalation, whether due to its grave effects on the lives of civilians, or the threat it poses to security,” a Facebook post from the spokersperson read.

The October 7 attack by Hamas killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, in Israel. In retaliation, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed more than 8,000 people, half of them children, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the besieged Palestinian territory has said. 

India on Friday abstained from a UN General Assembly resolution that called for an immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas war, saying that the resolution does not mention Hamas and that the UN needs to send a clear message against terrorism.

“We hope that the deliberations of this assembly will send a clear message against terror and violence and expand prospects for diplomacy and dialogue while addressing the humanitarian crisis that confronts us,” said India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Yojna Patel.

India expressed grave concern over the worsening situation in Gaza and urged both sides to cease hostilities and pursue a peaceful resolution through dialogue.

The Israeli military announced it was stepping up its bombardment of Hamas-controlled Gaza Saturday just hours after the first aid trucks arrived from Egypt bringing desperately needed relief to civilians in the war-torn enclave.

The military said it aimed to reduce the risks its troops would face as they enter Gaza in the next phase of the war it launched on Hamas after the militant group carried out the deadliest attack in Israel’s history on October 7.

Hamas militants killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death, and took more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Israel has retaliated with a relentless bombing campaign that has killed more than 4,300 Palestinians in Gaza, mainly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

An Israeli siege has cut food, water, electricity and fuel supplies to the densely populated territory of 2.4 million people, sparking fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Tens of thousands of Israeli troops have deployed to the Gaza border ahead of an expected ground offensive that officials have pledged will begin “soon”.

“From today, we are increasing the strikes and minimising the danger,” military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari told a press conference Saturday.

“We have to enter the next phase of the war in the best conditions, not according to what anyone tells us.”

On a visit to a frontline infantry brigade, chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said troops were ready to deal with any surprises Hamas had in store for them when they enter Gaza.

“Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing a lot of things there — but we are also preparing for them,” Mr. Halevi said.

AFP journalists saw 20 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent pass through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into Gaza on Saturday.

The crossing — the only one into Gaza not controlled by Israel — closed again after the trucks passed.

The lorries had been waiting for days on the Egyptian side after Israel agreed to a request from its main ally the United States to allow aid to enter.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said the 20 trucks admitted on Saturday fell far short of the needs of Gazans, more than one million of whom have been forced from their homes.

“Much more” aid needs to be sent, Mr. Guterres told a peace summit in Egypt.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the aid and urged “all parties” to keep the Rafah crossing open.

But a Hamas spokesman said “even dozens” of such convoys could not meet Gaza’s requirements, especially as no fuel was being allowed in to help distribute the supplies to those in need.

In Cairo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted a peace summit attended by regional and some Western leaders.

“The time has come for action to end this godawful nightmare,” Mr. Guterres told the summit, calling for a “humanitarian ceasefire”.

Mr. Guterres said “the grievances of the Palestinian people are legitimate and long” after “56 years of occupation with no end in sight”.

But he stressed that “nothing can justify the reprehensible assault by Hamas that terrorised Israeli civilians”.

“Those abhorrent attacks can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he added.

According to Arab diplomats who spoke with AFP on condition of anonymity, the summit broke up without a joint statement, highlighting the gulf between Arab and Western countries on how best to bring lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Western delegates demanded “a clear condemnation placing responsibility for the escalation on Hamas” but Arab leaders refused, the diplomats said.

Instead, the Egyptian hosts released a statement — drafted with the approval of Arab delegates — criticising world leaders for seeking to “manage the conflict and not end it permanently”.

The statement said such “temporary solutions and palliatives… do not live up to even the lowest aspirations” of the Palestinian people.

Israel bemoaned the lack of a condemnation of the October 7 attacks by Hamas.

“It is unfortunate that even when faced with those horrific atrocities, there were some who had difficulty condemning terrorism or acknowledging the danger,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

A full-blown Israeli ground offensive of Gaza carries many risks, including to the hostages Hamas took and whose fate is shrouded in uncertainty.

So the release of two Americans among the hostages — mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan — offered a rare “sliver of hope”, said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

U.S. President Joe Biden thanked Qatar, which hosts Hamas’s political bureau, for its mediation in securing the release.

He said he was working “around the clock” to win the return of other Americans being held.

Natalie Raanan’s half-brother Ben told the BBC he felt an “overwhelming sense of joy” at the release after “the most horrible of ordeals”.

Hamas said 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”.

Almost half of Gaza’s residents have been displaced, and at least 30% of all housing in the territory has been destroyed or damaged, the United Nations says.

Thousands have taken refuge in a camp set up in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

Fadwa al-Najjar said she and her seven children walked for 10 hours to reach the camp, at some points breaking into a run as missiles struck around them.

“We saw bodies and limbs torn off and we just started praying, thinking we were going to die,” she told AFP.

The United States has moved two aircraft carriers into the eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran or Lebanon’s Hezbollah, both Hamas allies, amid fears of a wider conflagration.

Exchanges of fire continued across Israel’s border with Lebanon Friday.

Hezbollah reported the loss of four of its fighters while Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad reported one fighter killed.

In Israel, two Thai farm workers were wounded, emergency services said.

Violence has also flared in the West Bank, where 84 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, according to the health ministry.