Israel-Hamas war: Aid convoy enters northern Gaza

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the "very survival" of the population of Gaza was at "stake."

Borrell was meeting Blinken at the State Department, where the two diplomats touched on a range of topics including the two wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

Borrell thanked Blinken for his "personal efforts" in ensuring humanitarian aid is delivered to citizens in Gaza.

But Borrell added in spite of the aircraft airdrops and the opening of a new maritime corridor to send aid to Gaza, land borders ought to accessible.

"The most important thing is to open the borders by land and continue working, or start working on the two-state solution that both of us, the US and the EU, endorse," he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called for "flooding the zone" to get much more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Blinken said he held a video conference with officials from Cyprus, Britain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the European Union and the United Nations to establish a new maritime corridor into Gaza for aid.

This would enable the distribution of up to 2 million meals to Palestinians in the besieged territory.

Blinken said a maritime corridor would not be a substitute for overland routes and reestablishing this access was also a priority.

The US foreign policy chief also said protecting civilians must be "job No. 1" for Israel.

"We look to the government of Israel to make sure this is a priority. Protecting civilians, getting people assistance they need, that has to be job No. 1, even as they do what is necessary to defend the country to deal with the threat posed by Hamas," Blinken told reporters.

A second ship carrying aid for Gaza will depart from Cyprus as soon as the first boat has finished unloading its cargo in the Palestinian territory, the Cypriot foreign minister said.

The war between Israel and Hamas has created a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with the UN warning the population is on the brink of famine.

A first vessel, the Open Arms, set sail from the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Tuesday pulling a barge loaded with almost 200 tons of food for Gaza. It is not clear how long it will take to arrive at its destination.

The foreign minister of Cyprus, Constantinos Kombos, said a second boat, "with bigger capacity," was now being prepared and would leave in the coming days.

"If there is no problem, we have lined up the next departure," he said. "The whole point is to try to offer much needed assistance to the people who are in this horrible situation."

Once it arrives in Gaza, the aid carried by the Open Arms will be unloaded onto a pier built for the operation before being distributed.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says at least one of its staff members was killed in a strike on a food distribution center in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

More than 20 other people were injured, according to Juliette Touma, UNRWA director of communications.

"UNRWA uses this facility to distribute much-needed food and other lifesaving items to displaced people in southern Gaza," she said, adding that the agency was still trying to confirm what happened and how many staff members were affected.

The Israeli military said it was investigating the reports.

Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a terror attack in southern Israel on October 7 that killed nearly 1,200 people. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since then.  

Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the US, EU, Israel and others.

A German-Israeli man killed during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, but thought to have possibly been kidnapped, has been declared dead. 

Itay Chen was serving as a soldier when Hamas carried out the rampage against southern Israeli towns and military bases that sparked the now five-month-old war in Gaza.

"It is devastating to learn that our fellow German Itay Chen, whom we had hoped to be still alive, is dead after all," Germany's ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, wrote on the X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Killed by Hamas on [October 7] at age 19, his body abducted into Gaza," Seibert said. "My heart goes out to his family who fought so tirelessly for his release."

Israel reports that unspecified intelligence had concluded that Chen had been killed. 

"Our hearts are broken. We loved him so much and would have done anything to bring him home alive," Israeli media reported his parents as saying.

Militants from the Palestinian group Hamas and other extremist groups abducted about 250 people to the Gaza Strip during the massacre, in which they killed nearly 1,200 others.

In a cease-fire in late November, 105 hostages were released, but about 100 hostages are still believed to be alive.

Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization in Germany, the United States and the European Union.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the Israeli military killed a "senior Hamas operative" in southwestern Lebanon, near the city of Tyre.

The Hamas member was identified as Hadi Ali Mustafa.

"Hadi Mustafa was involved in directing sabotage cells and field activities to attack Israeli and Jewish targets in various countries around the world," IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The spokesperson said Mustafa worked under Samir Fendi, an associate of Saleh al-Arouri. He added that Fendi was killed alongside al-Arouri, who was killed in a strike in Beirut in early January.

Reuters news agency cited Hamas' Al Aqsa television as saying that Hadi Mustafa was a leader of the group's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that three people were killed in the Israeli strike near the Palestinian Rashidiyah refugee camp, which lies near Tyre. One of those killed was a Syrian citizen who was on a motorcycle near the targeted car, according to the report.

Israel, Germany and the United States are among the countries that classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. 

In the Gaza Strip, 31,272 people have died since the start of the war with Israel, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The ministry said that another 73,024 people have been injured in the Palestinian enclave since October 7, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the UN and multiple humanitarian organizations consider the casualty numbers broadly reliable.

At least one person has been killed in an Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon.

The strike hit the car near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyah, near the city of Tyre.

The strike came a day after Israel said it had attacked around 4,500 targets related to the Hezbollah group in Lebanon and Syria.

Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have regularly been trading fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the start of the war with Hamas in October.

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group in Lebanon. Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Germany will provide airdrops of humanitarian assistance to people in the Gaza Strip.

"The people in Gaza are lacking the most basic necessities," Pistorius said. "We want to do our part to ensure that they get access to food and medicine."

The German air force will deliver the supplies. The German dpa news agency said the minister signed an order on Wednesday for the Bundeswehr to deliver the humanitarian aid.

Germany's military confirmed that preparations were being made to drop aid on Gaza using C-130 transport aircraft stationed in France.

The French air force is already dropping aid supplies into Gaza. Wednesday's order sees Germany joining an initiative launched by Jordan to supply Palestinians with much-needed aid from the air.

A convoy of trucks from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has entered the northern Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the trucks passed through a new military road as part of a plan to prevent the aid from falling into the hands of the Hamas Islamist militant group. Israel says it aims to destroy the military capabilities of the militant group, which launched attacks on southern Israel on October 7 to start the war and is classified as a terrorist organization by several countries.

"WFP delivered enough food for 25,000 people to Gaza City early Tuesday in the first successful convoy to the north since February 20," the UN agency said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

"With people in northern #Gaza on the brink of famine, we need deliveries every day + we need entry points directly into the north," it said.

Aid organizations have warned that Gaza is facing famine due to restrictions on the entry of aid.

The European Union is preparing a €7.4 billion ($8.08 billion) aid package for Egypt, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The assistance is being provided amid fears that the war between Israel and Hamas and the conflict in Sudan could exacerbate Egypt's financial woes.

The Financial Times reported that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is scheduled to travel to Cairo on Sunday accompanied by the prime ministers of Greece, Italy and Belgium.

A Spanish aid ship is en route to Gaza amid worsening conditions in the Palestinian enclave.

The delivery is part of a program to establish a maritime corridor to the territory, which is facing famine and a broader humanitarian crisis.

The Open Arms vessel left Cyprus' port of Larnaca on Tuesday carrying 200 tons of aid. It is expected to arrive in Gaza later this week.

The US-based World Central Kitchen NGO collected the food on the ship.

Cyprus said a second ship was being prepared.

sdi/sms (AP, Reuters, AFP, DPA)