LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- No consensus at the Cairo Summit on the Israel-Palestinian violence.
- The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt opened Saturday, allowing the transportation of humanitarian aid.
- Clashes between Israel and Hamas continue, with Israeli airstrikes killing 19 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian media.
- Israel issued a warning advising its citizens against traveling to Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, and if they are in those countries to leave as soon as possible.
A Cairo summit hosted by Egypt Saturday failed to reach an agreement on how to contain the violence between Israel and Hamas. Arab leaders condemned the Israeli bombardment of Gaza while mostly Western countries said civilians should be shielded, but with Israel and senior U.S. officials absent there was no consensus on how to resolve the conflict.
Amid international fears of a widening war, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati in a call Saturday that the Lebanese people would be affected if his country were drawn into the war, the U.S. State Department said.
Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel's military have been trading fire at the frontier almost daily, and Hezbollah said Saturday one of its fighters was killed on the border.
In Iraq, a security source said two drones were shot down near the Ain al-Asad air base, where U.S. forces are stationed. U.S. troops have come under repeated attack in Syria and Iraq in recent days.
Jordan's King Abdullah II decried what he called global silence about Israel's attacks, which have killed thousands in Hamas-ruled Gaza and made over 1 million homeless, urging an even-handed approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The message the Arab world is hearing is that Palestinian lives matter less than Israeli ones," he said, adding he was outraged and grieved by acts of violence waged against innocent civilians in Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Israel.
Mahmoud Abbas, who is the elected Palestinian president, said Palestinians would not be displaced or driven off their land.
"We won't leave, we won't leave," he told the summit.
France called for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza that it said could lead to a cease-fire. Britain and Germany both urged Israel's military to show restraint and Italy said it was important to avoid escalation.
The United States, Israel's closest ally and a vital player in all past peace efforts in the region, only sent its Cairo charge d'affaires, who did not address the meeting in public.
Global protests
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched Saturday through London to demand Israel stop its bombardment of Gaza. Similar demonstrations took place in other cities around the world.
In Tel Aviv, outside of the Israeli Defense Ministry headquarters, demonstrators protested Saturday, to "bring the hostages home."
In the Jordanian capital of Aman, more than 6,000 people took part in a protest Friday, arranged by opposition parties and tribal groups.
Chanting slogans urging Islamist Hamas militants to intensify their strikes on Israel, thousands of Jordanians marched in the capital and around the country, decrying Israel's strikes on Gaza.
Israel-Hamas strikes
Israeli airstrikes pounded the Gaza Strip early Saturday and Hamas fired fresh salvos of rockets into southern Israel as the bitter conflict between the foes entered its third week.
There were no signs of a letup in the war that has killed more than 5,000 people.
The Israel Defense Forces said its fighter jets struck multiple Hamas command centers in Gaza overnight into Saturday. Palestinian media reported airstrikes in northern Gaza hit six homes and killed at least 19 people.
In Israeli cities near Gaza, warning sirens sounded, alerting residents of incoming rockets. The rocket attacks caused no reported injuries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday night that his country intends to "fight until victory" against Hamas and will attempt to recover the more than 200 hostages Hamas seized when its fighters invaded Israel during the opening days of the war.
Netanyahu's remarks came hours after two Americans, a mother and daughter from the Chicago area who also hold Israeli citizenship, were released by Hamas. They were the first hostages held by the militant group in Gaza to be freed.
Limited aid enters Gaza
The Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt opened Saturday morning for the first time since the deadly October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, allowing a convoy of about 20 trucks to deliver food, water, medicine, and other necessities to Gaza's residents.
Palestinian officials expressed disappointment that Gaza did not receive fuel supplies.
"Excluding the fuel from the humanitarian aid means the lives of patients and injured will remain at risk. Gaza hospitals are running out of the basic requirements to pursue medical interventions," the Gaza health ministry said, adding that the aid was only 3% of what it used to get in Gaza before the crisis.
Some Gazans said the aid arriving Saturday was too little to make a difference.
"This is a drop in the ocean. You are trying to show the world that you are bringing aid. This is throwing dust in the eyes," said Nabil El-Dhaba, a resident of the Shejaia district in Gaza City who has been displaced to Deir Al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The United Nations has been pressing Israel and Egypt to allow aid to flow freely into Gaza, where hundreds of thousands need assistance after two weeks of Israeli bombing and a strict Israeli blockade of food and fuel.
Martin Griffiths, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said Saturday that he is "confident that this delivery will be the start of a sustainable effort to provide essential supplies – including food, water, medicine and fuel — to the people of Gaza, in a safe, dependable, unconditional and unimpeded manner."
The United Nations said the life-saving supplies would be received and distributed by the Palestinian Red Crescent with the consent of Hamas, which rules Gaza.
Blinken hailed the opening of the Rafah crossing but echoed a warning from Israel that no aid should end up in Hamas hands.
"We have been clear: Hamas must not interfere with the provision of this life-saving assistance," Blinken said in a statement. "We urge all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open to enable the continued movement of aid that is imperative to the welfare of the people of Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israel issued a warning advising its citizens against traveling to Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, and if they are in those countries to leave as soon as possible. The warning advises Israelis to avoid traveling to any Middle Eastern countries. It also warned against traveling to Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Maldives, countries with large Muslim populations. Israel does not want its nationals to be targeted by people in those countries who may be angry about Israeli actions following the Hamas attack.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
