Gaza war: Biden to visit Israel

U.S. President Joe Biden has promised make a high-stakes visit to Israel on Wednesday to show support for its war on Hamas.

This came after Washington said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to let humanitarian aid reach besieged Gazans.

The U.S. national security spokesperson, John Kirby said after visiting Israel, Biden would travel to Jordan to meet King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Trucks carrying vital supplies for Gaza reached the Rafah crossing in Egypt, the only access point to the enclave outside of Israel’s control.

A witness told Reuters some 160 trucks had left the nearby Egyptian town of Al-Arish, where they have been backed up while diplomats tried for days to open the route.

Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that controls Gaza after Hamas gunmen killed 1,300 people, mainly civilians, during a rampage through southern Israeli towns on Oct. 7, the deadliest single day in Israel’s 75-year history.

Israel has bombarded Hamas-rule Gaza enclave with air strikes that have killed more than 2,800 Palestinians and driven around half of the 2.3 million Gazans from their homes.