Daily Despatch: Biden's Visit To Israel, Hamas Hostage Video, Gaza Crisis

From the frontlines of the Israel-Palestine war, NDTV brings you daily despatches by journalist Allan Sorensen, Middle East Correspondent for Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, giving insights and gripping first-hand accounts from the war-torn region.

The arrival of US President Joe Biden in Israel on Wednesday was confirmed late Monday.

"He's coming here at a critical moment for Israel, for the region and for the world," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said about the visit in a meeting with the press in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. Antony Blinken had just finished an unprecedented eight-hour meeting with the entire Israeli war cabinet at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Although Biden's visit is described as a show of strong support to Israel, it also sends a warning to regional powers such as Iran and Hezbollah against escalating the situation.

"This is much broader than a war between Israel and Hamas. The US President sees the current situation as a war between good and bad. Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas stand on one side, while US, Europe and Israel stand on the other," Amos Yadlin, former head of Israel's military intelligence, tells Channel 12. He adds that if Iran and Hezbollah attack Israel, then Israeli and US soldiers will fight shoulder-to-shoulder. 

The US Navy has dispatched two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean Sea as a deterrent to Israel's enemies.

The USS Dwight D Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group recently joined the USS Gerald R Ford group in the Mediterranean, bringing the total number of assigned American warships to 10.

On Monday, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari stated that 35 planes with ammunition are en route to Israel.

"We are always looking around us, in the entire Middle East. The IDF (Israeli Defence Force) will operate anywhere in the Middle East to fulfil Israel's security aims. We are highly prepared in all arenas," Daniel Hagari was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel.

In the past week Israeli fighter jets have carried out attacks on the airports of Damascus and Aleppo in Syria.

Just before entering the 11th day of fighting, Abu Obeida from the Hamas military wing stated that the group is holding 200 hostage in Gaza, and another 50 are being held by other Palestinian groups.

Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas' diaspora office in Qatar, said Hamas demands the release of 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israel to reach a possible prisoner swap.

Last night, Hamas released a video showing Mia Shem, one of the hostages in Gaza. Mia Shem has dual Franco-Israeli citizenship. In the video recording, she says she is being treated well and that Hamas also treated a wound on her hand. In Israel, the video is seen as an expected part of psychological warfare, in which Hamas will use hostages to raise public pressure on the government.

According to Shimrit Meir, former adviser to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Hamas has divided the hostages into three groups. One group comprises Israeli soldiers, the second has Israeli children, women and elders, while the third group is made up of Israelis with dual citizenship.

On the border between Egypt and Gaza, the situation escalated dramatically on Monday when Israeli jets hit the area for a fourth time since the beginning of the latest fighting.

The Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt remains closed while thousands of Palestinians wait in the border area. The massive and ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza continues and every day, more Palestinians are seeking shelter by moving to south Gaza, as requested by the Israeli army. At the same time, the Israeli blockade and the fact that the Rafah border remains closed escalates the humanitarian crisis inside Gaza by the hour and draws the city closer to a total collapse. 

Egypt and the US made a request to Israel on Monday to allow a convoy of trucks with humanitarian aid to cross from Egypt into Gaza. Israel rejected this request, adding to the spiralling humanitarian crisis. 

According to UN personnel inside Gaza, hospitals are running out of medicine and fuel. Water is scarce and no food products have been delivered since the middle of last week.

The European Union said on Monday it would launch a humanitarian air bridge of "several flights" to Egypt with aid to the population in Gaza.

"The first two flights will take place this week, carrying humanitarian cargo from UNICEF, including shelter items, medicines and hygiene kits," the EU said in a statement.

According to the al-Arabiya channel, some 100 trucks are already waiting on the Egyptian border for the green light to cross the border into Gaza.

In an interview with NPR, John Kirby, spokesperson for the US National Security Council, emphasized the importance of avoiding a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

"We believe that humanitarian assistance should absolutely continue to flow to the people of Gaza. They have every right to expect food, water and medicine. And the United States is going to continue to work with our partners to that end," he said.

On Israel's border to Lebanon tension remains high. After a relatively quiet beginning to the day, the Hezbollah attacked Israeli positions on Monday evening with at least five anti-tank missiles. No one was hurt in the attacks, but later in the evening Israeli jets overflying the city of Haifa in low altitude hit targets inside Lebanon. Among them were four Hezbollah fighters who tried to cross the border between Lebanon and Israel.

In a televised interview with Iranian state TV on Monday, the country's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian revealed that Iran considers pre-emptive action if Israel continues to attack Gaza. 

Hamas, Hizbullah and Iran are part of the so-called axis of resistance against Israel. The comments of Hossein Amir Abdollahian come after his return from regional meetings with representatives from these groups.

"Pre-emptive action is possible in the coming few hours because the leaders (of the resistance axis) will naturally not allow the Zionist regime to do whatever it wants in Gaza," he said.

He added: "If the war crimes against the Palestinians are not immediately stopped, other multiple fronts will open and this is inevitable."

(Allan Sorensen is the Middle East correspondent for the Danish daily newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.