
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>A total of 322 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Sunday—the most in a single day since the war began—the Israeli Ministry of Defense confirmed on Sunday, as Israel faces increased scrutiny over its treatment of aid workers that has resulted in over 200 deaths so far.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>A total of 228 of the trucks that crossed into Gaza on Sunday were carrying food, said the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories in a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/cogatonline/status/1777030931280167407?s=46&amp;t=XMT4bHReB9TWcV5q_r0pFw" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">statement</a>&nbsp;on social media, the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s department that handles humanitarian aid shipments.</p>



<p>The rapid increase in aid deliveries follows increased scrutiny on the process after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/caileygleeson/2024/04/02/netanyahu-says-israel-deeply-regrets-strike-that-killed-7-aid-workers-what-we-know-about-victims/?sh=3d7d6d9275fb">seven aid workers</a>&nbsp;with World Conflict Kitchen were killed in Israeli air strikes on Monday.</p>



<p>One of the seven international aid workers was an American citizen, prompting the White House to call for “specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.”</p>



<p>Following a tense conversation with President Biden on Thursday, Israel reopened the Erez Crossing, the large border entry between northern Gaza and Israel, and announced it would allow aid shipments to flow through the port of Ashdod.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>The increased pressure to protect international aid workers comes after the Israeli government apologized for the deaths of the seven World Conflict Kitchen workers on Monday. After an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/04/05/idf-fires-senior-officers-after-deadly-strike-on-aid-workers-as-it-blames-mistaken-identification/?sh=7cb8b7f7ae7f">IDF investigation</a>, the Israeli military called the attack a “grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification,” and dismissed two senior officers over the strike. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/1775214347519660112" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">apologized</a>, adding that “we will do everything in our power to ensure that such tragedies do not occur in the future.” José Andrés, the celebrity chef and founder of World Conflict Kitchen, told&nbsp;<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-4-7-24-chef-jos-andrs/story?id=108949216" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">ABC News’s</a>&nbsp;Martha Raddatz the attack was “unforgivable” and called for Israel to face “a real reckoning on how they conduct war.” Andres thanked Israeli military for releasing the results of the investigation so quickly, but also called for an independent investigation into the attack. “The perpetrator cannot be investigating himself,” Andrés said.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<p>More than 220. That’s how many international aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7, according to the most recent&nbsp;<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148276" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">U.N. estimates</a>. Speaking on Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation into the other deaths. “We want to know why each one of them was killed,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2024/apr/05/we-want-to-know-why-un-chief-questions-israel-on-196-aid-workers-killed-in-gaza-video" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Guterres demanded</a>&nbsp;after a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h2>



<p>Although a record number of aid trucks entered Gaza on Sunday, aid shipments have faced other issues making it into the besieged territory during the war. In February, a group of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/10/gaza-aid-blockade-protest-kerem-shalom/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">far-right Israeli activists</a>&nbsp;camped out in front of aid convoys attempting to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom Crossing. Aid shipments have also been threatened by members of Netanyahu’s government. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s coalition,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/13/israel-gaza-flour-shipment" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">intervened to block</a>&nbsp;a shipment of flour bound for Gaza from the U.S.</p>


Humanitarian aid trucks at Rafah Border Crossing

Largest Aid Convoy Enters Gaza Since War Began Amid Mounting Pressure On Israel


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>An outdoor concert and dance party in a rural area near the Gaza-Israel border turned into tragedy Saturday, when many attendees were killed or taken hostage by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip, adding to hundreds of Israeli casualties in the unprecedented attack.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>About 260 bodies were recovered from the festival grounds, though it’s expected the toll will rise, a spokesperson for ZAKA, an Israeli non-governmental rescue and recovery organization, told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/music-festival-revelers-israeli-desert-became-victims-hamas-militants-rcna119394" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-rockets-airstrikes-tel-aviv-ca7903976387cfc1e1011ce9ea805a71" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">outlets</a>&nbsp;Sunday.</p>



<p>The SuperNova Festival—which celebrated the Jewish holiday Sukkot—took place in the Negev Desert near Urim, a kibbutz about 13 miles from the Gaza Strip.</p>



<p>Attendees&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/07/middleeast/israel-gaza-fighting-hamas-attack-music-festival-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;CNN that once they heard the gunshots early Saturday morning they tried to flee, but cars were at a standstill and gunmen were still shooting, so some ran into nearby forests and hid.</p>



<p>One attendee described the scene to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/2023_q3/Article-f88c2856ee80b81026.htm?Partner=interlink" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">local media</a>&nbsp;as “four-five hours of a horror movie” and another described hearing sirens before the gunshots started, saying there were gunmen in every direction shooting at the concert-goers.</p>



<p>One festival-goer called it a “battlefield,” telling Israeli newspaper&nbsp;<a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-07/ty-article/.premium/survivors-of-massacre-at-israeli-outdoor-rave-describe-battlefield/0000018b-0a85-dae9-adcb-abbfa4990000" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Haaretz</em></a><em>&nbsp;</em>they saw gunmen firing from all directions and burnt-out cars on the street.</p>



<p>“Everyone just started running in all directions,” attendee Eliav Klein&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/music-festival-revelers-israeli-desert-became-victims-hamas-militants-rcna119394" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;NBC News, adding his friend jumped off a 25-foot cliff; Klein estimated there were thousands at the festival, though there is not yet an official count of attendees.</p>



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<p>Some attendees were seen in social media videos being taken hostage by militants—CNN&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/07/middleeast/israel-gaza-fighting-hamas-attack-music-festival-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;the details of a viral video in which an Israeli woman and her boyfriend were shown being kidnapped, and the woman’s family has since&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67047034" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">confirmed</a>&nbsp;to BBC they believe she was taken hostage.</p>



<p>Jake Marlowe, a 26-year-old British man who was working security at the festival, is missing and hasn’t been heard from since Saturday, when he texted his mother about the attack, Sky News&nbsp;<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/british-citizen-jake-marlowe-missing-after-hamas-attack-on-music-festival-in-israel-says-embassy-12979858#:~:text=A%20British%20citizen%20is%20missing,the%20festival%20in%20southern%20Israel" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>“We are doing the best we can to help the security forces, maintaining constant contact with them and are positioned in the area taking part in searches in order to locate the missing,” Nova Festival said in a Hebrew&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TRIBEofNOVA/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>&nbsp;on social media translated by CNN, adding they “share the sorrow” of the missing and killed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<p>1,100. That’s at least how many Israeli and Palestinian people have died since Hamas fighters entered Israel on Saturday. The Israeli death toll is past 700,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/IsraelMFA/status/1711091937514492031?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1711091937514492031%7Ctwgr%5E82081fcc6e897c4ff5356e244afd539a6f0eb034%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Flive%2F2023%2F10%2F08%2Fworld%2Fisrael-gaza-attack-hamas-news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to the Israel Foreign Ministry, and the Palestinian Ministry of Health&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/10/08/americans-taken-hostage-in-hamas-attack-on-israel-as-death-toll-passes-1000/?sh=28673215239b">said</a>&nbsp;there were about 413 Palestinians who had been killed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>On Saturday, Gaza-based militant group Hamas launched an attack on Israel from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/barrage-of-rockets-fired-at-israel-from-gaza-strip-d5b2f05f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">air, land and sea</a>, with militants crossing the Gaza Strip border into southern Israel while Hamas fired rockets toward Israeli cities, leading to one of the worst attacks on Israel in decades. The festival grounds were reportedly one of the first places gunmen attacked, capturing and killing civilians. Throughout Saturday night into Sunday, residents of Gaza faced Israeli airstrikes, while sirens to warn of potential attacks rang through the night in Israel. The Israeli military is widely expected to launch a large-scale counterattack on Gaza: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/10/07/israel-vows-mighty-vengeance-unprecedented-hamas-attack-leaves-at-least-200-dead/?sh=e0f214d688dd">said</a>&nbsp;the scale of the attack “has never been seen in Israel,” and vowed to “take mighty vengeance for this black day.” Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif called the attack the “day of the greatest battle to end the last occupation on earth,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/07/israel-declares-state-of-war-alert-after-surprise-hamas-attack.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-762052" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">outlets</a>&nbsp;reported. Throughout Sunday, death and injury tolls have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/10/08/americans-taken-hostage-in-hamas-attack-on-israel-as-death-toll-passes-1000/?sh=28673215239b">continued to rise</a>&nbsp;and more information about hostages has been released, as well. Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, after Israeli forces withdrew from the occupied territory two years prior, and the narrow, densely populated coastal territory has remained under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since then, with occasional flare-ups between Hamas and Israel’s military.</p>


Tag: Gaza-Israel border

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Largest Aid Convoy Enters Gaza Since War Began Amid Mounting Pressure On Israel

At Least 260 Killed At Israeli Music Festival In Hamas Attack—Attendees Describe ‘Horror Movie’