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'Sliver of hope' as Hamas releases hostages, but Gaza aid stalled amid promises
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Friday that humanitarian relief stuck in Egypt was "the difference between life and death for so many people in Gaza"
Egyptian Red Crescent members coordinate aid for Gaza, after United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, at Al Arish Airport, Egypt, October 20, 2023. Reuters
Hamas released two American hostages held in Gaza, offering a "sliver of hope" to desperate families, as Israel pounded the densely-populated territory where millions waited for promised aid deliveries on Saturday.
The Islamist group took more than 200 people hostage when it stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials.
The fate of the hostages has been shrouded in uncertainty, so the release of mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan offered a rare "sliver of hope", said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
US President Joe Biden said he was "overjoyed" by the release, which comes days after he visited Israel to express solidarity with the wounded country and press for humanitarian aid into Gaza.
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Trucks carrying relief are still stuck on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing into Gaza, though Biden said they could cross in the "next 24 to 48 hours".
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, and says around 1,500 of the group's fighters were killed in clashes before its army regained control of the area under attack on October 7.
Israel's military campaign has levelled entire city blocks in Gaza, killing 4,137 Palestinians, mostly civilians.
Israeli troops are massed on the border with Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion that officials have pledged will begin "soon".
Some 2.4 million Palestinians live in the densely populated enclave, and almost half have been displaced, according to the UN.
Israel has cut off supplies of water, electricity, fuel and food to the long-blockaded territory.
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Friday that humanitarian relief stuck in Egypt was "the difference between life and death for so many people in Gaza".
And World Health Organization emergencies director Michael Ryan said Biden's deal for an initial 20-truck delivery was "a drop in the ocean of need" and that 2,000 trucks were required.
At least 30 percent of all housing in Gaza has been destroyed or damaged, the UN says, citing local authorities, and thousands have taken refuge in a tent city set up in southern Gaza's Khan Yunis.
Fadwa al-Najjar said she and her seven children walked for 10 hours to reach the camp, at some points breaking into a run as air strikes descended around them.
"We saw bodies and limbs torn off and we just started praying, thinking we were going to die," she told AFP.
"I would have preferred not to leave, to have stayed at home and died there," her daughter Malak added.
Israel's operation will take not "a day, nor a week, nor a month," the country's defence minister Yoav Gallant warned Friday, and will result in "the end of Israel's responsibilities in the Gaza Strip".
An Israeli foreign ministry source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Israel envisaged "handing over the keys" to neighbouring Egypt, which has strongly rejected attempts to place Gaza's residents under its responsibility.
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