US reports deal with Egypt to restart aid to Gaza as protests rock Middle East
- US President Joe Biden says 20 trucks of humanitarian aid to cross from Egypt to Gaza
- Angry protests continued across the Muslim world after a deadly blast at a Gaza hospital
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Hundreds killed in Gaza hospital blast, Israel and Hamas trade blame
Egypt agreed to reopen its border crossing with the Gaza Strip to allow aid to reach Palestinians, the US said, as the humanitarian crisis worsened for the 2.3 million people trapped in the enclave and anti-Israel protests flared across the Middle East.
The region remained volatile in the aftermath of an explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital late on Tuesday, which Palestinian officials said killed 471 people and blamed on what they said was an Israeli air strike.
Israel and the US said the cause was a failed rocket launch by Islamist militants in Gaza who denied responsibility. Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat said the death toll from the blast was only “several dozen”.
Demonstrations erupted in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and elsewhere amid outrage across the Middle East over the hospital explosion. Lebanese security forces fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters throwing projectiles near the US embassy in Beirut, TV footage showed.
Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank during protests, Palestinian officials said, while Palestinian official news agency WAFA said Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man during a raid on the West Bank village of Budrus.