Gaza aid could enter as soon as Friday, says Biden | First Thing

Twenty trucks are preparing to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing, but US president says aid will halt if it is seized by Hamas. Plus, Naomi Klein on populists, conspiracists and real-world activism

Good morning.

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid will enter Gaza from Egypt's Sinai peninsula in the coming days, according to the White House, after Joe Biden's whirlwind visit to Israel that followed a deadly blast at a hospital in the besieged territory.

Why did the US veto the UN's call for humanitarian pause' and corridors into Gaza? The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the resolution, carefully crafted by Brazilian diplomats, was unacceptable because it made no mention of Israel's right to self-defence. The UK abstained, saying the resolution lacked mention of the way Hamas was using ordinary Palestinians as human shields.

What happened at Al-Ahli Arab hospital? Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli airstrike for the explosion that Gaza's health ministry said on Wednesday had killed 471 Palestinians and wounded 314 others. Israel has said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which has denied blame. Forensic reviewing of open source videos and news broadcasts have given a clearer picture of what happened on Tuesday night.

How did the vote go yesterday? Twenty-two Republicans and all Democrats opposed Jordan, leaving him far short of the 217 votes needed to ascend to the speakership. Four Republicans who had supported him on the first ballot flipped against him yesterday. Only two Republicans who initially voted against Jordan, Doug LaMalfa of California and Victoria Spartz of Indiana, dropped their opposition.