'US committed to ensuring Gazans have access to water, food'

The United States (US) is committed to ensuring that civilians in Gaza will continue to have access to food, water and medical care without it being diverted by Hamas, President Joe Biden said on Saturday.

“We will continue to work with all parties to keep the Rafah crossing in operation to enable the continued movement of aid that is imperative to the welfare of the people of Gaza,” he said in a statement after the first convoy of humanitarian supplies passed through the crossing into the enclave.

UN chief Antonio Guterres pleaded Saturday for a “humanitarian ceasefire” in the war between Israel and Hamas that has devastated much of Gaza, demanding “action to end this godawful nightmare”.

Addressing a Cairo summit as the conflict raged into its third week, Guterres said the Palestinian enclave of 2.4 million people was living through “a humanitarian catastrophe” with thousands dead and more than a million displaced.

“We meet in the heart of a region that is reeling in pain and one step from the precipice,” he told the meeting that included the leaders of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as well as of Italy and Spain and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

The bloodshed began on October 7 when Hamas stormed across the Gaza border into Israel, launching an attack that has killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, in the deadliest attack on Israeli soil since the state was founded in 1948.