Biden calls for humanitarian pause

Egypt working to evacuate 7,000 people from southern Gaza, foreign ministry says

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Egypt is working to evacuate about 7,000 people from southern Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement this morning.

The statement said that people from “more than 60 countries” would be among those allowed to cross.

Evacuations began through the crossing yesterday for the first time since Israel imposed a siege on the Palestinian enclave after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

Some injured civilians crossed into Egypt and hundreds of foreign passport holders, including some American, were allowed to leave.

More than half of Gaza’s population has been displaced, UNRWA estimates

It’s estimated that 1.4 million people are currently displaced in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said in a statement today.

That would mean more than half of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million people had been uprooted from their homes.

The UNRWA statement added that an estimated 160,000 people are housed in 57 shelters in the north and in Gaza City where the bulk of the fighting has taken place.

Biden, interrupted by protester calling for cease-fire, backs pause

At a campaign event in Minnesota today, Biden was interrupted by a protester calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Just as Biden was explaining how the deadly rally by white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia, inspired him to run for office again, he was interrupted.

“Mr. President, you care about Jewish people. As a rabbi, I need you to call for a cease-fire right now,” said a woman who later identified herself to NBC News as Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg. Rosenberg is part of the activist group Jewish Voice for Peace.

The crowd tried to drown her out, but Biden addressed Rosenberg: “I think we need a pause.”

Read the full story here.

Crowds gather at the Rafah border to cross into Egypt

Hundreds more people with foreign passports, including Americans, were expected to make it out of Gaza today. Crowds were gathering this morning at the border crossing as they wait for permission to leave.