After Secretary of State Antony Blinken, it ishe American president himself who visits Israel. Joe Biden announced on that he was going to make the trip on Wednesday October 18. “On Wednesday, I will travel to Israel to express my solidarity with the brutal Hamas terrorist attack,” writes the tenant of the White House who will meet in particular with Benjamin Netanyahu. He will immediately make a detour to Jordan “to respond to urgent humanitarian needs, meet with leaders and make clear that Hamas does not defend the Palestinian right to self-determination.” Follow our live stream.
The Israeli army announces that it has bombed Hezbollah military positions in Lebanon. Since the attack on October 7, clashes on the Israel-Lebanon border have left around ten dead on the Lebanese side, mostly combatants but also a Reuters journalist and two civilians. On the Israeli side, at least two people were killed. Israel has also begun to evacuate thousands of residents in 28 localities in the north of the country after these clashes at the border.
Hamas broadcasts video of “one of the prisoners in Gaza”. The caption states that she was kidnapped “on the first day” of the attack. The Palestinian Islamist movement broadcast, on its official Telegram account, the video of“one of the prisoners in Gaza”, in which a young woman speaking Hebrew appears. In this video, impossible to immediately authenticate, we see this young woman awake and lying down, injured in the arm. She says she is being held in Gaza and calls for her release, saying she is being treated well. In a second sequence, she appears on camera and says she is from central Israel.
A humanitarian air corridor to Gaza opened by the EU. Europe will open a humanitarian air corridor to the Gaza Strip. “Palestinians in Gaza need humanitarian aid”that is why “We are launching a humanitarian corridor via Egypt. The first two flights will leave this week, and they will bring humanitarian materials to Gaza”, said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, from Tirana, Albania. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, announced a little earlier, from Lebanon, that “Efforts are underway to open a humanitarian corridor through Rafah”the only entry point into the Gaza Strip controlled by Egypt and not by Israel.