After Washington reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consented to allow humanitarian supplies to reach beleaguered Gazans, U.S. President Joe Biden will pay a high-stakes visit to Israel on Wednesday to express support for its battle against Hamas.

The sole gateway to the enclave not under Israeli control, the Rafah border in Egypt, was reached by trucks bringing essential supplies for Gaza. Approximately 160 trucks, according to a witness, departed the adjacent Egyptian town of Al-Arish, where they had been held up for days while diplomats attempted to unblock the road.
Following the murder of 1,300 people, mostly civilians, by Hamas militants on October 7, the worst day in Israel’s 75-year history, during a rampage across southern Israeli communities, Israel has threatened to destroy the movement that rules Gaza completely.

More than 2,800 Palestinians have been dead, and over half of the 2.3 million residents of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip have been ejected from their homes due to Israel’s airstrikes on the area. The Gaza Strip is currently under a complete siege that has prevented the delivery of any aid, including food, fuel, and medical supplies.

After many hours of negotiations with Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Biden’s upcoming trip, claiming that Netanyahu had agreed to create a strategy for delivering humanitarian supplies to Gaza’s residents.

“The president will hear from Israel what it needs to defend its people as we continue to work with Congress to meet those needs,” Blinken stated. Vice President Biden wants to “hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas.”

After Iran promised “preemptive action” from the “resistance front” of its supporters, which includes the Hezbollah organization in Lebanon, Washington is also attempting to mobilize Arab governments to help prevent a larger regional war.

According to John Kirby, a U.S. national security spokesman, Biden will go to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas after visiting Israel.

The Israeli military claimed to have attacked military sites belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad overnight, including the group’s headquarters and a bank. According to the Interior Ministry of Gaza, a nighttime Israeli strike on residences in Khan Younis and Rafah resulted in at least 49 Palestinian deaths.

Israel claims that during their assault, Hamas militants took 199 captives. While making it obvious that it wants to exchange Israeli hostages for thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, Hamas claimed that foreigners among the detainees were its “guests” who would be freed “when circumstances allow.”

On Monday, it published a video where a French-Israeli hostage was shown getting an injured arm attended to by a medical professional. She introduced herself as Mia Schem, age 21, and requested to be sent back as soon as possible to her family.

Crashing in northern Israel

The United States, including Iran, its Lebanese partner Hezbollah, and Syria, attempts to prevent a wider regional war. Biden’s travel is an unusual and hazardous step, signaling American support for Netanyahu.

Israeli border battles with Hezbollah have escalated on a second front along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon as Israel prepares for an anticipated ground assault on Gaza to expel Hamas.

The Israeli military reported on Tuesday that it had killed four individuals who had attempted to penetrate the border barrier to place explosives. On Monday, Israel issued an order requiring the evacuation of 28 communities in a 2-km-deep (1.2-mile) area close to the Lebanese border.

Iran has praised the assaults by Hamas against Israel despite insisting that it had nothing to do with them. Israel cannot intervene in Gaza without repercussions, the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on state television, threatening “preemptive action” in the coming hours. “All options are open, and we cannot be indifferent to the war crimes committed against the people of Gaza,” Amirabdollahian stated. “The resistance front is capable of waging a long-term war with the enemy.”

On Monday, Netanyahu addressed the legislature, saying, “Iran and Hezbollah, don’t test us in the north. Avoid making the same error you did previously because the cost you will incur now is substantially higher.

Israel has instructed more than a million residents in the northern part of the enclave to go to the southern portion for their protection as it amasses troops at Gaza’s border. They should remain put, according to Hamas. The United Nations claims there is no possibility to relocate so many people without triggering a humanitarian disaster, even though tens of thousands have died.

According to the U.N., a million Gazans have already been evicted from their homes. Sanitary water is in short supply, there is no power, and hospital emergency generator fuel is running low.