 "Israel Palestine")
Israel has agreed to allow Egypt to deliver limited humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip while the Israeli military keeps up its airstrikes on the Palestinian territory.
More than 1 million Palestinians, roughly half of Gaza’s population, have fled homes in the north and Gaza City after Israel told them to evacuate. The airstrikes early Thursday continued across the entire territory, including in areas in the south that Israel had declared as “safe zones” .
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops gathered at the Gaza border on Thursday that they will soon see the Palestinian enclave “from inside”, suggesting an expected ground invasion with the aim of annihilating Hamas could be nearing.
Biden is considering a supplemental request to Congress of about $100 billion that would include defense assistance for Israel and Ukraine, along with border security funding and aid to nations in the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan, according to people familiar with the matter.
Britain Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who landed in Tel Aviv hours after Biden left, borrowed his phrase associated with British wartime leader Winston Churchill, pledging to stand by Israel “in its darkest hour’.
“Above all, I’m here to express my solidarity with the Israeli people. You have suffered an unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism and I want you to know that the United Kingdom and I stand with you,” Sunak told reporters.
An Israeli airstrike on Thursday killed Jehad Mheisen, the head of Hamas-led national security forces in Palestine. His family members were also killed in the attack.
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As the war continues, the shekel weakened for a ninth day, its worst streak since 2020. The currency fell 0.1 per cent to 4.03 against the dollar in early trade, near an eight-year low reached earlier this week.
Israel’s high-tech air defense system, the Iron Dome, risks getting overwhelmed by missile attacks if the escalating war with Hamas in Gaza expands into a wider regional conflict.
The US-backed system of interconnected radar and mobile missile batteries is designed to shoot down rockets, missiles and mortars that could hit Israeli population centers or important infrastructure.
But like any air defense system, it relies on sufficient stocks of interceptor missiles and can be overrun if the incoming assault is large enough.
