DEIR AL-BALAH (TIP)- European officials struck a new deal with Israel to allow desperately needed food and fuel into Gaza, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said Thursday as Israeli airstrike killed 10 children and five adults waiting for care outside a medical clinic.
The announcement came as prospects for a ceasefire agreement in the near term appeared to be fading as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to leave Washington after meetings with President Donald Trump. Still, US officials held out hope that restarting high-level negotiations — mediated by Egypt and Qatar and including White House envoy Steve Witkoff — could bring progress.
“We’re closer than we’ve been in quite a while and we’re hopeful, but we also recognize there’s still some challenges in the way,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a stop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Deal to increase aid
July 10 agreement could result in “more crossings open, aid and food trucks entering Gaza, repair of vital infrastructure and protection of aid workers,” said Kaja Kallas, the 27-member EU’s top diplomat.
“We count on Israel to implement every measure agreed,” she said in a post on social media. Aid groups say Israeli military restrictions and recurring violence have made it difficult to deliver assistance in Gaza even after Israel eased its 2 1/2 month total blockade in May. Experts have warned that the territory is at risk of famine, 21 months into the Israel-Hamas war. Kallas said the deal would reactivate aid corridors from Jordan and Egypt and reopen community bakeries and kitchens across Gaza. She said measures would be taken to prevent the militant Hamas group from diverting aid.
Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing aid and selling it to finance militant activities. The United Nations says there is no evidence for widespread diversion.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar acknowledged the deal while attending a conference in Vienna, saying it came “following our dialogue with the EU.” He said the deal includes “more trucks, more crossings and more routes for the humanitarian efforts.”
Neither Saar not Kallas said whetehr the aid would go through the UN-run system or an alternative, US- and Israeli-backed mechanism that has been marred by violence and controversy.
Israeli strikes kill at least 36
Israeli strikes pounded the Gaza Strip overnight, killing at least 36 Palestinians, including 15 people waiting outside a medical clinic, local hospitals and aid workers said Thursday. The Israeli military said one soldier was killed in Gaza.
Gaza’s Nasser Hospital reported a total of 21 deaths in airstrikes in the southern town of Khan Younis and the nearby coastal area of Muwasi. It said three children and their mother, as well as two other women, were among the dead. The 15 killed early Thursday outside the clinic in the central city of Deir al-Balah were waiting for nutritional supplements, according to Project Hope, an aid group that runs the humanitarian facility.
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