Aid to Gaza should start before the ground offensive – the nightly update without photos Putin propagandist admits: Russia is profiting from the war in Israel

Shortly before Israel’s upcoming ground offensive against Islamist Hamas attackers in the Gaza Strip, the battle for urgently needed aid for the desperate population is gathering momentum. Aid supplies stored in Egypt at the Rafah border crossing are expected to arrive in the Gaza Strip by Saturday at the latest, according to an Israeli army spokesman. Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant announced an impending ground offensive, according to media reports. “The order will come,” he told troops deployed near the border of the Israeli-sealed coastal enclave. US President Joe Biden now wants to submit a request to Congress for an aid package that should also include “unprecedented aid for Israel.”

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Biden: “We should not give up peace”

“We will ensure that other hostile actors in the region know that Israel is stronger than ever and prevent this conflict from spreading,” Biden said in an address to the nation on Thursday evening (local time). Israel and the Palestinians equally deserve to live in security, dignity and peace. “We cannot give up peace. We cannot give up on a two-state solution,” Biden said. However, the people of the region cannot even dream of peace at the moment.

A bloody urban war is looming

Experts warn of bloody urban wars if Israel, as expected, sends ground troops to the densely populated Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean Sea. Following Hamas’s devastating terrorist attacks, Israel wants to eliminate the Islamic organization’s military capabilities and rule. More than 1,400 people have been victims of Hamas attacks in Israel and more than 200 people have been kidnapped by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. According to reports in the Israeli media, there are almost thirty children and young people among them. 100 to 200 people are missing.

Since then, the Israeli Air Force has been attacking targets in the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, 3,785 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7. Another Hamas member involved in the terrorist attacks was killed on Friday evening, according to the Israeli military. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets into Tel Aviv and central Israel late Thursday evening.

Aid deliveries appear imminent

According to the UN, about a million residents of the northern Gaza Strip have fled to the southern part in recent days. The Israeli army, which had called for this to prevent civilian casualties if the fighting escalated, said about 600,000 people. In the south is the Rafah border crossing on the border with Egypt. Dozens of trucks carrying humanitarian supplies are piled up on the Egyptian side. The first deliveries would arrive in Gaza “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow at the latest,” Israeli army spokesman Arye Sharuz Shalicar said on Thursday evening in the “RTL Direkt” program.

“We need fast, unhindered access for humanitarian aid. We need food, water, medicine and fuel immediately,” UN Secretary General António Guterres wrote on the X platform (formerly Twitter) on Friday evening. He is in Egypt to talk to the government about opening the border crossing.

Germany announces aid for people in Gaza

Germany is increasing its support to the suffering civilian population in the Gaza Strip with emergency humanitarian aid worth EUR 50 million. The money will be used to support international organizations such as the World Food Program, the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF ​​and especially the United Nations Palestine Relief Agency (UNRWA), as German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) announced on Thursday. evening in Jordan. On Friday she wanted to travel to Israel and then to Lebanon.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) has assured his Israeli colleague Joav Galant of Germany’s support in the fight against Hamas. The most urgent task is to secure the release of the kidnapped, the SPD politician said during a meeting with Galant on Thursday in Tel Aviv. Germany also wants to support this where possible and is prepared to support the Israeli army with equipment. Meanwhile, Israel has completed preparations for a ground offensive. The army spokesman said the exact time this would start was confidential.

Sharp criticism from human rights activists

The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the US and its allies of failing to criticize Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. Tom Porteous, HRW’s deputy program director, asked on Thursday where “the clear condemnation of the brutal tightening of the 16-year closure of the Gaza Strip” was. This amounts to “collective punishment, a war crime.”

More gunfire on Israel’s border with Lebanon

Meanwhile, the Israeli army also attacked pro-Iranian Hezbollah positions in Lebanon on Friday evening and suspected terrorists. In response to the shelling by the Shia militia, the army attacked Hezbollah observation posts on Wednesday, the army said. In addition, a fighter jet hit three people who were trying to fire rockets towards Israel. It was unclear whether there were any injuries or deaths.

Since the terrorist attacks on Israel by the Islamist-Palestinian organization Hamas and the Israeli counter-attacks on the Gaza Strip, there have been regular incidents at the Israel-Lebanon border in recent days. There are international fears that Hezbollah could intervene more intensively in the Gaza conflict and impose a second, northern front against Israel. Hezbollah has close ties with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Foreign Ministry has called on German citizens and their relatives in Lebanon to leave the country due to the security situation. (sda/dpa)