Israel allows Egypt to send limited humanitarian aid to Gaza, Palestine says Tel Aviv blocking relief food  

Israel allows Egypt to send limited humanitarian aid to Gaza, Palestine says Tel Aviv blocking relief food  

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Israel has agreed to allow Egypt to deliver limited humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. More than 1 million Palestinians have fled homes after Israel told them to evacuate.

The Israeli airstrikes early Thursday continued across the entire territory, including in areas that Israel had declared as “safe zones.”

The war began on October 7 after Hamas militants stormed into Israel, and Israel vowed to destroy the militant group. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that 3,785 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 others have been wounded.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed. An Israeli military spokesperson said that the families of 206 people believed to have been captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza had been notified.

Mourners chanted and clapped as they carried the bodies of two Palestinian men killed in the West Bank through the streets of Ramallah during their funeral on Thursday.

“I am crying for those who left their parents,” they shouted. “Mother of the martyr, rejoice. Your son will definitely go to heaven.”

Mohammad Fuwaka, 21, was killed on Wednesday while sitting with other young people gathered at a spring in the village of Dura el-Kari’a, his uncle Naseem Fuwaka said.

“They were surprised last night by the settlers who opened fire on them, resulting in the martyrdom of my nephew,” Fuwaka said. “May God have mercy on him.”

The other man, Jibril Awad, 32, was killed after the Israeli army raided the village of Budrus.

Israel’s Supreme Court is postponing a flashpoint hearing on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul because some of the government’s representatives in the case have been called up for reserve duty, according to the court postponement order.

The hearing, originally set for Sunday, has now been moved to November 5. The case deals with the legality of Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s refusal to convene the judicial appointments committee, a move which critics say will help Levin augment the bench to suit his far-right coalition’s policy preferences.

The case will make the third major hearing on the overhaul, after two cases were heard last month. Since the outbreak of war, Netanyahu’s government has largely put the overhaul on hold. Hamas’ spokesman for the Rafah crossing, Wael Abu Omar, said that no aid or road repairing equipment has entered Gaza from Egypt as of Thursday afternoon.

Egypt and Israel reached a deal on Wednesday evening that would allow aid to enter the Palestinian territory through the Rafah crossing. Later that day, US President Joe Biden said that aid could begin rolling into the region by Friday, but that the roads near the crossing would first need hours of repairs. The crossing has been hit by four Israeli airstrikes since October 7, Egyptian authorities say.

The European Parliament has called for a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza to make sure aid can reach the needy and stressed that Israel’s right to defend itself can only be done within the strictures of international law.

In the nonbinding resolution adopted on Thursday in a 500-21 vote, with 24 abstentions, European lawmakers also called for the immediate release of all hostages kidnapped by Hamas.

The call for a “humanitarian pause” stopped short of demanding a cease-fire. Gaza’s second-largest hospital has switched off the lights in the majority of the facility as staff try to conserve energy amid fuel shortages.

Lights are still on in Nasser Hospital’s intensive care unit, but in many other departments, doctors are using cell-phones and flashlights to illuminate procedures.

Meanwhile, funerals were held for the victims of an earlier strike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. A mother wept, clutching the small body of her child cocooned in white cloth.

  • An AP report
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