Tonight, Gaza on the brink of an invasion. Two weeks after a deadly surprise attack by Hamas, Israel stands ready to send in troops on the ground. Soldiers and tanks are amassed along the border, waiting for word to strike. The Israeli military says ahead of the ground offensive, it is intensifying air attacks, which already have been pounding Gaza since the start of the war. In Egypt, Arab leaders met today to call for a ceasefire fire and peace summit to end this brutal conflict. Thousands are dead on both sides. Among the victims in Gaza, at least sixteen UN workers and nearly two dozen journalists. The brutality of this war has spawned protests around the world. Today in London, tens of thousands marched in support of the Palestinian cause. Meanwhile today, Egypt briefly allowed just twenty trucks into Gaza carrying food, medicine, and water but no fuel was allowed. The UN is hoping a second convoy of relief trucks will be allowed in on Sunday.
Civilians in Gaza have been paying the price since Hamas’s barbaric attack on Israeli civilians. More than half a million people survived on UN aid cut off food, water and medical supplies to the fury of Palestinians, including US passport holders like L.B, who feels abandoned by President B. Speaking to CBSN, she and her family are at the border with Egypt, where after two weeks of an Israeli blockade, aid is finally coming in, but at a trickle. Only twenty trucks for now compared to the hundreds that entered daily before the latest conflict. In response to the bloodshed, the Arab world has been ablaze in protest, demonstrators denouncing Israel and America for supporting it with billions in military aid. The rage even in Cairo, the city notorious for the 2011 mass protests of Tahir Square, the epicenter of the Arab Spring followed by a brutal police crackdown. For the past decade, demonstrations in Egypt have been banned. Now, they’re encouraged. Fury over the innocent deaths of Palestinians, and fear of a mass influx of refugees into Egypt, where security forces could be overwhelmed by a human stampede, says former Egyptian lawmaker and Israel expert, E.G.