Israel will allow ‘continuous flow’ of goods to Gaza, White House says

Washington presses Israel to devise long-term strategy for Gaza Strip

Israel has agreed to allow a “continuous flow” of aid into the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the U.S. White House announced following a phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel did not immediately confirm that such an agreement had been reached.

Biden also thanked Netanyahu for Israel's support in the release on Friday of the two dual American-Israeli citizens who were being held as hostages by the Hamas terror organization.

The two leaders also discussed further efforts to free the more than 200 hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip.

The White House report of the Israeli agreement was slammed by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on X.

“Any agreement of ‘continuous aid to Gaza’ that doesn’t include freeing all our hostages is just a continuation of the concept that led us to where we are now. Humanitarian [aid] only in exchange for freeing all the hostages,” Ben Gvir said.

Shortly after, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) stated that Israel would not provide any aid to Gaza directly and would prevent unmonitored aid trucks from entering.

The U.S. has also been pressing Israel on the question of what will happen with the Gaza Strip after Israel succeeds in destroying the Hamas terror group that rules the Strip.

Israel should start to devise a plan for that scenario, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with NBC's program, “Meet the Press.”

“There are different ideas out there about what could follow, but all of that needs to be worked out and it’s something that needs to be worked out even as Israel is dealing with the current threat,” he said.

“We can’t go back to the status quo. They can’t go back to the status quo, with Hamas being in a position in terms of its governance of Gaza to repeat what it did… At the same time, what I’ve heard from the Israelis — is absolutely no intent, no desire to be running Gaza themselves,” Blinken added.