Egypt agreed to reopen its border crossing with the Gaza Strip to allow aid to reach Palestinians, the U.S. said, as the humanitarian crisis worsened in the narrow enclave and anti-Israel protests flared across the Middle East, APA reports citing Reuters.
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 U.S. said the cause was a failed rocket launch by anti-Israeli Palestinian militants in Gaza who denied responsibility.
Lior Haiat, spokesperson for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said on social media platform X that at the hospital "several dozen people were apparently killed," a much lower toll than reported by Palestinian officials.
Amid outrage over the hospital explosion, demonstrations erupted in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and elsewhere.
Biden told reporters that Sisi agreed to open the Rafah crossing from Egypt to Gaza to allow about 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid into the enclave, where people are desperately short of food, water, fuel and other essentials after Israel unleashed a blockade and air strikes 12 days ago.
Biden did not give a timeline for the opening, but U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby said it would occur in coming days following repairs to the road.
Amid fears the conflict could spread beyond Gaza, Biden had planned to meet Arab leaders. But Jordan called off his planned summit there with Egypt and the Palestinian Authority after the hospital blast.
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