Last week,Iran’s top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran was not involved in the Tehran-backed militant Hamas group’s attack on Israel on October 7,but hailed what he called Israel’s “irreparable” military and intelligence defeat.

Backing the Palestinian cause has been a pillar of the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution and a way the Shi’ite-dominated country has fashioned itself as a leader of the Muslim world. Tehran says it gives moral and financial support to Hamas,which controls the Gaza Strip.

Aid delivery

Egypt said on Monday that Israel was not co-operating with delivery of aid into Gaza and evacuations of foreign passport holders via the only entry it does not wholly control,leaving hundreds of tonnes of supplies stuck.

Cairo says the Rafah crossing,a potentially vital opening for desperately-needed supplies into the Israeli-besieged Palestinian enclave,is not officially closed but was made inoperable due to Israeli air strikes on the Gaza side.

As Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gaza has intensified,the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been left without power,pushing health and water services to the brink of collapse,with fuel for hospital generators running low.

“There is an urgent need to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters,adding that talks with Israel had not been fruitful.

“Until now the Israeli government has not taken a position on opening the Rafah crossing from the Gaza side to allow the entrance of assistance and exit of citizens of third countries.”

US officials were hoping that Rafahwould operate for a few hours late on Monday,White House spokesman John Kirby said,adding that earlier hopes for opening the crossing had been dashed.

The ongoing war made delivery of aid through Rafah “very difficult”,UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

“There will need to be a mechanism given that it implicates a lot of parties,some of which are not on speaking terms,to put it mildly. We’re working on that with key partners,” he told reporters in New York on Monday.

Hamas-affiliated radio station Aqsa said Israeli shelling hit the Rafah crossing area again on Monday. The Egyptian side of the border appeared deserted on Monday afternoon,with aid supplies being stockpiled in the nearby city of Al Arish.

Gazans have been under siege since Israel launched its most intense bombardment and blockade ever following a devastating cross-border assault by Islamist Hamas militants on October 7.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced within Gaza,with some taking cars and suitcases south towards the Rafah crossing but others heading back north after failing to find refuge.

“On our way to the crossing they shelled Rafah Street and we started screaming,” said one resident near the crossing,Hadeel Abu Dahoud. “Nowhere is safe in Gaza.”

The number of hostages Hamas captured during its massacre of across Southern Israel on October 7 has been revised upwards to 199,the Israeli military said.

Hundreds of civilians killed in the Hamas attacks have yet to be identified by Israeli forensics teams.

Hamas’ armed-wing spokesman,however,said in a recorded video on Monday there were about 200-250 Israeli captives in Gaza.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 2750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded.

More than 1400 Israelis have been killed,the Israeli government said.

Hezbollah shooting cameras

Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said on Monday it has started destroying surveillance cameras on several Israeli army posts along the border as tension rose following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

Hezbollah’s military media arm released a video showing snipers shooting at and destroying surveillance cameras placed on five points along the Lebanon-Israel border including one outside the Israeli town of Metula.

The militant group appears to want to prevent the Israeli army from monitoring movements on the Lebanese side of the border after days of fire exchange that left at least seven people dead,including four Hezbollah fighters,on the Lebanese side.

Like others,Egypt has spoken out against any mass exodus of Gaza residents,reflecting deep Arab fears that the latest war could spark a new wave of permanent displacement for Palestinians from lands where they have sought to build a state.

Egypt has called for a summit on the crisis,which Egyptian outlet Al Qahera News said was expected to be held on Saturday in the Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh. On Monday,Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the escalation in Gaza,Sisi’s office said.

Shoukry said Egypt aimed to restore regular access through Rafah,including for Palestinians seeking medical treatment or normal travel.

Early on Monday,Egyptian security sources had said a temporary ceasefire in southern Gaza had been agreed to facilitate aid and evacuations at Rafah,but Egyptian state TV later quoted a high-level source saying no truce had been agreed.

Hamas and Israel said no deal to open the crossing had been agreed.

Hundreds of tonnes of aid from NGOs and several countries were waiting in Al Arish for conditions to allow entry to Gaza.

“We are waiting for the green light for the aid to enter and dozens of volunteers are ready at any time,” a Red Crescent official in northern Sinai said.

Separately,Reuters video showed UN-flagged fuel trucks appearing to leave Gaza for Egypt through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.

“It is critical that life-saving assistance is allowed to move through the Rafah crossing without delay,” U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement,announcing that its chief Martin Griffiths would travel to Cairo on Tuesday.

Movement of goods and people through Rafah has been tightly controlled under a blockade of Gaza imposed by Israel and Egypt since Hamas took control of the enclave in 2007,and only registered travellers can cross.

Intel head apology

The head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service has taken responsibility for the bloody October 7 Hamas rampage that killed over 1400 Israelis.

In a message sent to Shin Bet workers and their families over the weekend,Ronen Bar wrote that “despite a number of actions we took,unfortunately,on Saturday we were unable to create enough early warning to prevent the attack.”

“As the person at the head of the organisation,the responsibility for that is on me,” he added. “There will be time for investigation — now is a time for war.”

The letter was obtained by The Associated Press on Monday.

The Shin Bet leads Israel’s efforts to track and monitor Palestinian militants. The Israeli news siteYnet has reported that on the eve of the attack,Bar was summoned to the office because of abnormal activity detected in Gaza. But officials believed that only a limited attack would take place,according to the report.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sheltered in a bunker for five minutes on Monday when air raid sirens went off in Tel Aviv during their meeting,State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

All the meeting participants have since moved out of the bunker,resumed their meeting and were going to a command centre at Israel’s defence ministry to continue their discussions,he said.

Reuters,AP

More coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

• Surprise attack:Hamas terrorists fired up to 5000 rockets from Gaza into Israel on October 7,triggering a declaration of war.Read our guide to the militant group and why it’s at war with Israel.

• The Iron Dome explained: How did Hamas breach Israel’s sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system? And why didn’t Israel’s intelligence servicessee these attacks coming?

• Tragedy in Israel:A 66-year-old Sydney woman has been killed and is thefirst known Australian casualty. Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong says the woman’s family in Israel and Australia is receiving consular assistance.

• What’s next:International editor Peter Hartcherjoins thePlease Explain podcast to analyse the escalating conflict in the Gaza Strip - and explain why a much bigger conflict is afoot.