First relief convoy enters Gaza devastated by 'nightmare' war

GAZA - The first aid trucks arrived in war-torn Gaza from Egypt on Saturday, bringing urgent humanitarian relief to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave suffering what the UN chief labelled a "godawful nightmare".

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the Islamist militant group carried out the deadliest attack in the country's history on October 7.

Hamas militants killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death, and took more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

An Israeli siege has cut food, water, electricity and fuel supplies to the densely populated and long-blockaded territory of 2.4 million people, sparking fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.

AFP journalists on Saturday saw 20 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, which is responsible for delivering aid from various UN agencies, pass through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into Gaza.

The crossing -- the only one into Gaza not controlled by Israel -- closed again after the trucks passed.

The lorries had been waiting for days on the Egyptian side after Israel agreed to a request from its main ally the United States to allow aid to enter.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said the 20 trucks admitted so far fell far short of the needs of Gazans, more than one million of whom have been forced from their homes.

"Much more" aid needs to be sent, Guterres told a peace summit in Egypt on Saturday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the aid and urged "all parties" to keep the Rafah crossing open.

But a Hamas spokesman said "even dozens" of such convoys could not meet Gaza's requirements, especially as no fuel was being allowed in to help distribute the supplies to those in need.

- 'Reeling in pain' -

Tens of thousands of Israeli troops have deployed to the Gaza border ahead of an expected ground offensive that officials have pledged will begin "soon".

As international tensions soar, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was hosting a peace summit in Cairo on Saturday attended by regional and some Western leaders.

"The time has come for action to end this godawful nightmare," Guterres told the summit, calling for a "humanitarian ceasefire".

The region "is reeling in pain and one step from the precipice", he said.

Guterres said "the grievances of the Palestinian people are legitimate and long" after "56 years of occupation with no end in sight".

But he stressed that "nothing can justify the reprehensible assault by Hamas that terrorised Israeli civilians". 

"Those abhorrent attacks can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people," he added.

According to Arab diplomats who spoke with AFP on condition of anonymity, the meeting broke up without a joint statement, highlighting the gulf between Arab and Western countries on how best to bring lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Western delegates demanded "a clear condemnation placing responsibility for the escalation on Hamas" but Arab leaders refused, the diplomats said.

Instead the Egyptian hosts released a statement -- drafted with the approval of Arab delegates -- criticising world leaders for seeking to "manage the conflict and not end it permanently".

The statement said such "temporary solutions and palliatives... do not live up to even the lowest aspirations" of the Palestinian people.

- 'Sliver of hope' -

A full-blown Israeli ground offensive of Gaza carries many risks, including to the hostages Hamas took and whose fate is shrouded in uncertainty.

So the release of two Americans among the hostages -- 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 thanked Qatar, which hosts Hamas's political bureau, for its mediation in securing the release.

He said he was working "around the clock" to win the return of other Americans being held.

Natalie Raanan's half-brother Ben told the BBC he felt an "overwhelming sense of joy" at the release after "the most horrible of ordeals".

Traumatised families with loved ones missing in Gaza demanded more action.

"We ask humanity to interfere and bring back all those young boys, young girls, mothers, babies," Assaf Shem Tov, whose nephew was abducted from a music festival where Hamas killed hundreds, said Friday.

- Devastation -

Almost half of Gaza's residents have been displaced, and at least 30 percent of all housing in the territory has been destroyed or damaged, the United Nations says.

Thousands have taken refuge in a camp set up in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

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 missiles struck around them.

"We saw bodies and limbs torn off and we just started praying, thinking we were going to die," she told AFP.

In Al-Zahra in central Gaza, Rami Abu Wazna was struggling to take in the destruction wreaked by Israeli missile strikes.

"Even in my worst nightmares, I never thought this could be possible," he said.

- Regional tensions flare -

The United States has moved two aircraft carriers into the eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran or Lebanon's Hezbollah, both Hamas allies, amid fears of a wider conflagration.

Exchanges of fire continued across Israel's border with Lebanon Friday, with Hezbollah reporting one of its fighters had been killed. In Israel, two Thai farm workers were wounded, emergency services said.

Hezbollah number two Naim Qassem warned: "If something comes up that calls for greater intervention by us, we will do so."

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant retorted: "Hezbollah has decided to participate in the fighting, and is paying a price for it."

Violence has also flared in the West Bank, where 84 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

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By Adel Zaanoun With Chloe Rouveyrolles-bazire In Jerusalem