[Source: Reuters]

Egypt agreed to reopen its border crossing with the Gaza Strip to allow aid to reach Palestinians, the U.S. said, as the humanitarian crisis worsened for the 2.3 million people trapped in the enclave and anti-Israel protests flared across the Middle East.

The region remained volatile in the aftermath of an explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital late on Tuesday, which Palestinian officials said killed 471 people and blamed on what they said was an Israeli air strike.

Israel and the U.S. said the cause was a failed rocket launch by Islamist militants in Gaza who denied responsibility. Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat said the death toll from the blast was only “several dozen”.

Demonstrations erupted in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and elsewhere amid outrage across the Middle East over the hospital explosion. Lebanese security forces fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters throwing projectiles near the U.S. embassy in Beirut, TV footage showed.

Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank during protests, Palestinian officials said, while Palestinian official news agency WAFA said Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man during a raid on the West Bank village of Budrus.

U.S. President Joe Biden discussed aid for Gaza with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi by phone late on Wednesday, while flying home from a less than eight-hour visit to Israel.

Biden told reporters that Sisi agreed to open the Rafah crossing from Egypt to Gaza to allow about 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid into the enclave, where people are desperately short of food, water, fuel and other essentials after Israel unleashed a blockade and air strikes 12 days ago.

Biden did not give a timeline for the opening, but U.S. national security spokesperson John Kirby said it would occur in coming days following repairs to the road.

Amid fears the conflict could spread beyond Gaza, Biden had planned to meet Arab leaders. But Jordan called off his planned summit there with Egypt and the Palestinian Authority after the hospital blast.

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Thursday and stressed the most urgent task was a ceasefire and stopping the war from expanding, Chinese state media reported.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also highlighted the risk the Gaza conflict might become regional, and Russia was in contact with Turkey over the matter, the Interfax news agency reported.

Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.