The Israeli military announced it was stepping up its bombardment of Hamas-controlled Gaza Saturday just hours after the first aid trucks arrived from Egypt bringing desperately needed relief to civilians in the war-torn enclave.

The military said it aimed to reduce the risks its troops would face as they enter Gaza in the next phase of the war it launched on Hamas after the militant group carried out the deadliest attack in Israel’s history on October 7.

Hamas militants killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death, and took more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Israel has retaliated with a relentless bombing campaign that has killed more than 4,300 Palestinians in Gaza, mainly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

An Israeli siege has cut food, water, electricity and fuel supplies to the densely populated territory of 2.4 million people, sparking fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Tens of thousands of Israeli troops have deployed to the Gaza border ahead of an expected ground offensive that officials have pledged will begin “soon”.

“From today, we are increasing the strikes and minimising the danger,” military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari told a press conference Saturday.

“We have to enter the next phase of the war in the best conditions, not according to what anyone tells us.”

On a visit to a frontline infantry brigade, chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said troops were ready to deal with any surprises Hamas had in store for them when they enter Gaza.

“Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing a lot of things there — but we are also preparing for them,” Mr. Halevi said.

AFP journalists saw 20 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent pass through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into Gaza on Saturday.

The crossing — the only one into Gaza not controlled by Israel — closed again after the trucks passed.

The lorries had been waiting for days on the Egyptian side after Israel agreed to a request from its main ally the United States to allow aid to enter.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said the 20 trucks admitted on Saturday fell far short of the needs of Gazans, more than one million of whom have been forced from their homes.

“Much more” aid needs to be sent, Mr. Guterres told a peace summit in Egypt.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the aid and urged “all parties” to keep the Rafah crossing open.

But a Hamas spokesman said “even dozens” of such convoys could not meet Gaza’s requirements, especially as no fuel was being allowed in to help distribute the supplies to those in need.

In Cairo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted a peace summit attended by regional and some Western leaders.

“The time has come for action to end this godawful nightmare,” Mr. Guterres told the summit, calling for a “humanitarian ceasefire”.

Mr. Guterres said “the grievances of the Palestinian people are legitimate and long” after “56 years of occupation with no end in sight”.

But he stressed that “nothing can justify the reprehensible assault by Hamas that terrorised Israeli civilians”.

“Those abhorrent attacks can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he added.

According to Arab diplomats who spoke with AFP on condition of anonymity, the summit broke up without a joint statement, highlighting the gulf between Arab and Western countries on how best to bring lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Western delegates demanded “a clear condemnation placing responsibility for the escalation on Hamas” but Arab leaders refused, the diplomats said.

Instead, the Egyptian hosts released a statement — drafted with the approval of Arab delegates — criticising world leaders for seeking to “manage the conflict and not end it permanently”.

The statement said such “temporary solutions and palliatives… do not live up to even the lowest aspirations” of the Palestinian people.

Israel bemoaned the lack of a condemnation of the October 7 attacks by Hamas.

“It is unfortunate that even when faced with those horrific atrocities, there were some who had difficulty condemning terrorism or acknowledging the danger,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

A full-blown Israeli ground offensive of Gaza carries many risks, including to the hostages Hamas took and whose fate is shrouded in uncertainty.

So the release of two Americans among the hostages — mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan — offered a rare “sliver of hope”, said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

U.S. President Joe Biden thanked Qatar, which hosts Hamas’s political bureau, for its mediation in securing the release.

He said he was working “around the clock” to win the return of other Americans being held.

Natalie Raanan’s half-brother Ben told the BBC he felt an “overwhelming sense of joy” at the release after “the most horrible of ordeals”.

Hamas said Egypt and Qatar had negotiated the release and that it was “working with all mediators to implement the movement’s decision to close the civilian (hostage) file if appropriate security conditions allow”.

Almost half of Gaza’s residents have been displaced, and at least 30% of all housing in the territory has been destroyed or damaged, the United Nations says.

Thousands have taken refuge in a camp set up in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

Fadwa al-Najjar said she and her seven children walked for 10 hours to reach the camp, at some points breaking into a run as missiles struck around them.

“We saw bodies and limbs torn off and we just started praying, thinking we were going to die,” she told AFP.

The United States has moved two aircraft carriers into the eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran or Lebanon’s Hezbollah, both Hamas allies, amid fears of a wider conflagration.

Exchanges of fire continued across Israel’s border with Lebanon Friday.

Hezbollah reported the loss of four of its fighters while Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad reported one fighter killed.

In Israel, two Thai farm workers were wounded, emergency services said.

Violence has also flared in the West Bank, where 84 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, according to the health ministry.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates stands for a photograph, during the Cairo Summit for Peace, with Charles Michel, President of the European Council, HE Nikos Christodoulides, President of Cyprus, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, Abdel Fattah El Sisi, President of Egypt , King Abdullah II, King of Jordan, Mahmoud Abbas, President of Palestine, Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, President of Mauritania, Mohamed Al Menfi, Chairman of the Presidential Council of the State of Libya at the St. Regis, in Cairo, Egypt, October 21, 2023. UAE Presidential Court/ Abdulla Al Neyadi/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY
| Photo Credit: UAE PRESIDENTIAL COURT

Egypt and Jordan harshly criticised Israel over its actions in Gaza at a summit on Saturday, a sign that the two Western allies that made peace with Israel decades ago are losing patience with its two-week-old war against Hamas.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who hosted the summit, again rejected any talk of driving Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula and warned against the “liquidation of the Palestinian cause.” Jordan’s King Abdullah II called Israel’s siege and bombardment of Gaza “a war crime.”

The speeches reflected growing anger in the region, even among those with close ties to Israel who have often worked as mediators, as the war sparked by a massive Hamas attack enters a third week with casualties mounting and no end in sight.

Egypt is especially concerned about a massive influx of Palestinians crossing into its territory, something that it fears would, among other things, severely undermine hopes for a Palestinian state. Vague remarks by some Israeli politicians and military officials suggesting people leave Gaza have alarmed Israel’s neighbours, as have Israeli orders for Palestinian civilians to evacuate to the south, toward Egypt.

In his opening remarks, Mr. el-Sissi said Egypt vehemently rejected “the forced displacement of the Palestinians and their transfer to Egyptian lands in Sinai.”

“I want to state it clearly and unequivocally to the world that the liquidation of the Palestinian cause without a just solution is beyond the realm of possibility, and in any case, it will never happen at the expense of Egypt, absolutely not,” he said.

Jordan’s King delivered the same message, expressing his “unequivocal rejection” of any displacement of Palestinians. Jordan already hosts the largest number of displaced Palestinians from previous Mideast wars.

“This is a war crime according to international law, and a red line for all of us,” he told the summit.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the Palestinian Authority, a government exercising semi-autonomous control in the occupied West Bank, called for Israel to stop “its barbaric aggression” in Gaza. He also warned against attempts to push Palestinians out of the coastal territory.

“We will not leave, we will not leave, we will not leave, and we will remain in our land,” he told the summit.

Israel says it is determined to destroy Gaza’s Hamas rulers but has said little about its endgame.

On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant laid out a three-stage plan in which airstrikes and “maneuvering” — a presumed reference to a ground attack — would aim to root out Hamas before a period of lower intensity mop-up operations. Then, a new “security regime” would be created in Gaza along with “the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip,” Mr. Gallant said.

He did not say who would run Gaza after Hamas.

Meanwhile, Israel has ordered more than half of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate from north to south within the territory it has completely sealed off, effectively pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians toward the Egyptian border.

Amos Gilad, a former Israeli defense official, said Israel’s ambiguity on the matter is endangering crucial ties with Egypt. “I think a peace treaty with Egypt is highly important, highly crucial for the national security of Israel and Egypt and the whole structure of peace in the world,” he said.

Mr. Gilad said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to speak directly with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan, and say publicly that Palestinians will not be entering their countries.

Two senior Egyptian officials said relations with Israel have reached a boiling point.

They said Egypt has conveyed its frustration over Israeli comments about displacement to the United States, which brokered Camp David Accords in the 1970s. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Egypt worries that a mass exodus would risk bringing militants into Sinai, from where they might launch attacks on Israel, endangering the peace treaty.

Arab countries also fear a repeat of the mass exodus of Palestinians from what is now Israel before and during the 1948 war surrounding its creation, when some 700,000 fled or were driven out, an event Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or catastrophe. Those refugees and their descendants, who now number nearly 6 million, were never allowed to return.

At Saturday’s gathering, the anger extended beyond the fears of mass displacement.

Both leaders condemned Israel’s air campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 4,300 Palestinians, including many civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza. Israel says it is only striking Hamas targets and is abiding by international law.

The war was sparked by a wide-ranging Hamas incursion into southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which over 1,400 people were killed, the vast majority of them civilians.

Mr. Abdullah, who is among the closest Western allies in the region, accused Israel of “collective punishment of a besieged and helpless people.”

“It is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. It is a war crime,” he said.

He went on to accuse the international community of ignoring Palestinian suffering, saying it had sent a “loud and clear message” to the Arab world that “Palestinian lives matter less than Israeli ones.”

President Joe Biden speaks from the Oval Office of the White House Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Washington, about the war in Israel and Ukraine.
| Photo Credit: AP

The White House on Friday released a sweeping set of proposals to bolster Israel and Ukraine in the midst of two wars as well as invest more in domestic defence manufacturing, humanitarian assistance and managing the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The total cost of the supplemental funding request was pegged at just over $105 billion. U.S. President Joe Biden hopes Congress will move urgently on the legislation, and he made the case for deepening U.S. support for its allies during a rare Oval Office address on Thursday night.

The Democratic President’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters on Friday that Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ attack on Israel represent a “global inflection point.”

“This budget request is critical to advancing America’s national security and ensuring the safety of the American people,” Mr. Sullivan said.

However, next steps are in doubt while the House of Representatives remains in chaos with the Republican majority unable to choose a new Speaker. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, is still pushing to run the chamber, an effort that has led to frayed nerves and bruised relationships on Capitol Hill.

Even if Republicans are able to sort out their leadership drama, Mr. Biden will swiftly face resistance to his plans. He’s hopeful that combining several different issues, from border security to countering China’s influence, will foster a political coalition that can move the legislation forward.

But there’s equal potential for the entire package to get bogged down in various policy debates, especially when it comes to immigration, a historically contentious topic.

Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, suggested it would be hypocritical for Republicans to oppose Biden’s proposal after complaining about lax border management.

“We will not be lectured by those who refuse to act,” she said. “As we’ve said repeatedly, Congress needs to take action to provide sufficient resources for the border.”

Although there was a lull in migrant arrivals to the U.S. after the start of new asylum restrictions in May, illegal crossings topped a daily average of more than 8,000 last month.

The White House wants roughly $14 billion to, among other things, boost the number of border agents, install new inspection machines to detect fentanyl and increase staffing to process asylum cases.

The biggest line item in the supplemental funding request is $61.4 billion to support Ukraine. Some of that money will go to replenishing Pentagon stockpiles of weapons that have already been provided.

“The world is closely watching what Congress does next,” Mr. Sullivan said.

Israel would receive $14.3 billion in assistance under the proposal. The majority of that money would help with air and missile defense systems.