U.S. and Israel Agree to Develop Plan to Provide Humanitarian Aid to Palestinians in Gaza

The United States and Israel have agreed to develop a plan to enable humanitarian aid from donor nations to reach the Palestinians in Gaza. This comes after a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital killed hundreds, and President Joe Biden’s efforts to tamp down tensions in the escalating war between Israel and Hamas faced massive setbacks.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli war Cabinet to discuss the situation. During the meeting, air raid sirens warned citizens in surrounding Tel Aviv neighborhoods to shelter in place. After nine hours of discussions, Blinken emerged to say that President Joe Biden would visit Israel on Wednesday to demonstrate America’s “ironclad commitment” to Israel’s security and that Netanyahu had promised to work to secure humanitarian assistance for Palestinians.

The planned summit between Biden and Arab leaders in Amman, Jordan, was called off after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas withdrew from the scheduled meetings in protest of the attacks. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza blamed the attack on an Israeli airstrike.

The agreement between the United States and Israel is an important step towards providing much needed humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in Gaza. It is also a sign of the Biden administration’s commitment to finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.