On the eleventh day of Israel’s complete siege of the Gaza Strip, the 2.4 million inhabitants of the Palestinian enclave lack food, drinking water, medicine and fuel. Around 175 humanitarian aid trucks remained blocked on Saturday October 21 on the Egyptian side of the border, at the Rafah terminal. The first shipment is expected to arrive on Saturday “as soon as possible”, said Martin Griffiths, responsible for emergency humanitarian situations at the UN. The Rafah border crossing could open at 10 a.m. (7 a.m. GMT), according to the US Embassy in Israel, which said in a statement that it had “information” in this sense. The embassy warned against “the potentially chaotic environment” what could this opening create, with a rush towards Egypt of dual nationals fleeing Gaza and the first aid deliveries.
According to the United Nations,at least a million Gazans have been displaced since the start of the war between the Jewish state and Hamas, triggered by a bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7. Follow our live stream.
At least 17 UN workers killed in Gaza. At least 17 employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, said its boss, Philippe Lazzarini. “So far, the deaths in this brutal war of 17 of our colleagues have been confirmed. Unfortunately, the true figure is likely to be higher,” he said. writes the Commissioner-General of UNRWA in a press release published on Saturday.
Israel calls on its nationals to leave Egypt and Jordan. Israel on Saturday called on its citizens in Egypt and Jordan to leave them “as quickly as possible” because of a “Demonstrations against Israel worsen”. A similar alert, level 4, the highest, had already been issued for Turkey and the recommendations were raised to level 3 for Morocco, advising Israelis not to go there.
Two American hostages released. Hamas released two American women on Friday evening whom it had kidnapped on October 7 during its deadly attack on Israel. The two women, Judith and Natalie Raanan, a mother and daughter, were released after mediation by Qatar. US President Joe Biden said “at the height of joy”.
New strikes in the night. The shelling of the gang continued during the night from Friday to Saturday, the Israeli army said on Telegram. She claims to have hit “Hamas command centers, anti-tank missile launchers and strategic infrastructure”and also targeted shooters and observers posted in buildings. The Palestinian Red Crescent also reported a threat of Israeli bombing against the Al-Quds hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, but declared itself “unable” to evacuate the establishment which houses some 500 patients in the area of the enclave hardest hit by the Israeli army.
A new victim in clashes in the West Bank. One person was also killed overnight in clashes with the Israeli army near Jericho, bringing to 84 the number of Palestinian deaths in the West Bank since October 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
French military intelligence favors the hypothesis of “a Palestinian rocket” at the al-Alhi hospital in Gaza. While Palestinians and Israelis blame each other shooting at a hospital in Gaza since Tuesday, an official from the French Military Intelligence Directorate (DRM) estimated that “The nature of the explosion and the exchanges with other intelligence partners lead me to (affirm) that there is nothing to say that this was an Israeli strike.” According to him, “The most likely hypothesis is a Palestinian rocket which exploded with a charge of around 5 kilos.”