Middle East conflict live updates: Blinken urges Hamas to accept deal, says pier for aid close to completion

Fifty-seven Democratic lawmakers in Congress signed an open letter urging President Biden to withhold sending offensive weaponry and other military support to Israel that could be used in an assault on the southern Gazan city of Rafah. The letter was spearheaded by Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.).

Israeli settlers attacked two aid convoys traveling from Jordan through Israeli-controlled territory in the West Bank to Gaza, Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. Some of the cargo was dumped into the streets and the trucks were damaged, it said. Israeli police said in a statement that four men were under investigation.

At least 34,568 people have been killed and 77,765 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.

Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 263 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza.