Biden complains aid meant for Palestinian civilians not arriving ‘fast enough’ from Egypt

WASHINGTON — President Biden said Tuesday that international humanitarian aid meant for Palestinian civilians is too slow in arriving as Israel and the terrorist group Hamas battle in the densely populated Gaza Strip.

“Not fast enough,” Biden said in response to a question about aid delivery as he left a scientific awards ceremony at the White House.

The 80-year-old president said last week that he had convinced Egyptian officials to open the long-closed Rafah border crossing to food and medicine — after Israeli crossings were closed following Hamas’s slaughter of more than 1,400 people in its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

A convoy of 20 trucks entered Gaza on Saturday after Egyptian officials repaved the roadway.

Biden last week pledged $100 million in US aid to Palestinians impacted by the crisis in the West Bank and Hamas-ruled Gaza and separately requested that Congress approve $14.3 billion in aid for Israel, including offensive and defensive military equipment.

The Biden administration reportedly has been pressuring Israel to postpone an anticipated ground invasion to remove Hamas from power in Gaza to allow for more negotiations on freeing more than 200 people believed to have been taken hostage.

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Follow along with The Post’s coverage of Israel’s war with Hamas

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The White House has refused to confirm publicly that it’s asking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay an invasion as the Israeli military pounds Gaza with airstrikes and Hamas continues to launch rockets into the Jewish state.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that the US rejects calls for a ceasefire in the conflict, which have been backed by a handful of far-left House Democrats.

“A ceasefire right now really only benefits Hamas,” Kirby said at the regular White House briefing.

Hamas on Friday released two US citizens abducted during the Oct. 7 attack and the terrorist group is believed to hold up to 10 other Americans. On Monday, it released two elderly Israeli citizens.

Although Biden has publicly supported Israel as it pledges to crush Hamas, he said Monday that he told Pope Francis the US “game plan” during a Sunday call and that “the pope was across the board supportive of what we’re doing.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday at the United Nations that Israel must proceed cautiously in Gaza, which has a population of roughly 2 million.

Civilian dead reported in Gaza include several Palestinian Christian cousins of former Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), who said they were sheltering in a church complex that partially collapsed following a nearby Israeli airstrike.

“At the heart of our efforts to save innocent lives in this conflict, and in every conflict, for that matter, is our core belief that every civilian life is equally valuable,” Blinken said. “There is no hierarchy when it comes to protecting civilian lives. A civilian is a civilian is a civilian, no matter his or her nationality, ethnicity, age, gender, faith.”

Blinken also boasted of the amount of US aid to Palestinians, which was mostly halted under former President Donald Trump but resumed in 2021 by Biden.

“The United States has committed an additional $100 million in humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, bringing the total aid that we provided to the Palestinian people to the past two and a half years to more than $1.6 billion dollars,” Blinken said. “That makes the United States the largest single-country donor by far to the Palestinian people.”