Aid trucks enter enclave after delays; two Israeli embassy staffers shot dead in Washington DC
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes had killed at least 52 people since dawn yesterday across the territory, as Israel allowed 100 aid trucks carrying flour, baby food and medical equipment into the enclave.
Boys and young men gathered after one vehicle arrived in the city of Khan Younis on Wednesday night, but kept back as men, some holding guns, watched over the unloading of sacks.
"Some bakeries will begin receiving flour to produce bread, and we expect the distribution of bread to begin later today[yesterday]," Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza, told Reuters.
"During the ceasefire, 600 trucks used to enter every day, which means that the current quantity is a drop in the ocean, nothing," he said. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had got one truck of medical supplies through to replenish its field hospital in Rafah, but more was needed.
The Palestinian health minister said 29 children and elderly people had died from starvation-related deaths in Gaza in recent days and that many thousands more were at risk.
The Israeli army issued an evacuation warning yesterday for 14 neighbourhoods in the northern Gaza Strip, including parts of Beit Lahia and Jabalia.
The army told residents in an Arabic-language statement that it was "operating with intense force in your areas, as terrorist organisations continue their activities and operations" there.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would be open to a temporary ceasefire to enable the return of hostages. But otherwise he said it would press ahead with a military campaign to gain total control of Gaza.
Meanwhile, two Israeli embassy staffers, a young couple about to be engaged, were killed by a lone gunman in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night, and a suspect who chanted pro-Palestine slogans is in custody, officials said.
The two were shot and killed as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Northwest, a part of downtown Washington that is about 1.3 miles (2 km) from the White House.
Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said a man shot at a group of four people with a handgun, hitting both the victims. He was seen pacing outside the museum prior to the shooting.
The Israeli foreign ministry named the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim and said they were both locally employed staff.
Smith said the single suspect, identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, chanted "Free Palestine, Free Palestine", after being taken into custody. Israel has stepped up securities at its embassies around the world.
A private US-backed foundation set up to distribute aid in Gaza said Wednesday that it will start handing out supplies in "coming days" and that its aim was to complement rather than replace the United Nations.
The United Nations has said it will not take part in the operation being prepared by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) that opponents among private aid groups have said is working closely with Israel, reports AFP.
The foundation, which has been based in Geneva since February, said in a statement it "will be operational in the coming days and will deliver aid to the people of Gaza without delay, diversion, or discrimination".
