Israel OKs limited aid for Gaza as regional tensions rise following hospital blast

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that limited humanitarian aid would be allowed into Gaza from Egypt following a request from President Joe Biden.

The president’s visit came after hundreds of people were reported killed in an explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital. There were conflicting claims of who was responsible for the hospital blast. Officials in Gaza quickly blamed an Israeli airstrike. Israel denied it was involved and released a flurry of video, audio and other information that it said showed the blast was due to a missile misfire by Islamic Jihad, another militant group operating in Gaza. The Islamic Jihad dismissed that claim.

The Associated Press has not independently verified any of the claims or evidence released by the parties.

The war that began Oct. 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday that 3,478 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,000 injured in the past 11 days.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, and at least 199 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

The United States is promising $100 million in humanitarian assistance to help Palestinian people who have been displaced or otherwise affected by conflict in Gaza and the West Bank.

Biden announced in a news release that the assistance would be provided through trusted partners, including U.N. agencies and international NGOs.

“Civilians are not to blame and should not suffer for Hamas’s horrific terrorism,” Biden said. “Civilian lives must be protected and assistance must urgently reach those in need.”

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday that an estimated 3,000 tons of humanitarian assistance are awaiting entry to Gaza from Egypt.

OCHA said it estimates about one million people are internally displaced, including about 352,000 people sheltering in UNRWA schools in central and southern Gaza “in increasingly dire conditions.”

It said Gaza is “still under a full electricity blackout.”

Hostages’ families decry decision to let aid into Gaza

The families of hostages held in Gaza have harshly criticized the Israeli government’s decision to allow limited humanitarian aid into Gaza.

A statement by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said the move only increased their suffering.

“Children, infants, women, soldiers, men, and elderly, some with serious illnesses, wounded and shot, are held underground like animals and without human conditions, and the Israeli government pampers the murderers and kidnappers with baklavas and medicines,” the statement read.

Hamas says militants are holding 250 hostages in Gaza.