More Americans and others were able to pass through the Rafah crossing out of Gaza and into Egypt on Thursday, while Israel’s military reported that it was encircling Gaza City in the north and fighting continued.
Israel’s military said that a cease-fire is not on the table as it wages war on Hamas.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that conditions for civilians, as well as those wounded and pregnant women, are dire.
“We’re running out of words to describe the horror unfolding in Gaza,” he said. He called for at least a humanitarian pause in the fighting to get badly needed aid to hospitals.
Thirteen Democratic senators in a letter called for a “short-term cessation of hostilities that pose high-risk to civilians, aid workers and humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza.”
In the House, a Republican-led measure was passed that would provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel — but which does not include aid to Ukraine — and which would also rescind the same amount from new funding for the IRS that was approved in a 2022 law signed by President Biden.
Democrats called the House Republicans bill dead on arrival in the Senate. Biden and Senate Democrats are backing a broader approach, pushing for $106 billion for both Israel and Ukraine aid and humanitarian aid for Gaza, as well as funding for U.S. border operations, in one package.
Source: NBC News