Netanyahu says Israel is not to blame for the flood crisis in Gaza, and other Mideast news

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected accusations that Israel has been delaying the entry of winter supplies into the Gaza Strip as the enclave faces worsening…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected accusations that Israel has been delaying the entry of winter supplies into the Gaza Strip as the enclave faces worsening conditions this week, with severe rains flooding makeshift tents.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said a tanker caught fire after hitting a naval mine early on Wednesday. The British military also reported an incident with a tanker in the contested waterway, but it was not immediately clear if it was the same vessel. And Israel struck Gaza in the morning, killing one Palestinian.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Read our full coverage here.

Netanyahu said Israel was not to blame for the worsening conditions for Palestinians in Gaza’s tent camps that have been hit with severe winter floods.

His remarks came after the U.S.-created Board of Peace — established under U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Israel-Hamas war and oversee Gaza’s recovery — said Monday that Israel’s delaying of the entry of winter supplies into Gaza had “exacerbated the consequences of a foreseeable humanitarian challenge.”

Torrential rain has battered the war-torn enclave in recent days, damaging tens of thousands of makeshift tents. Four people, including three children, were killed on Sunday when a large sandstone slab collapsed onto tents during the rains.

Netanyahu said the Palestinian militant group Hamas is to blame because it continues to refuse to disarm, a condition of the deal announced by Trump, and seizes humanitarian aid in order to use it for military purposes.

“Hamas alone is responsible for the suffering of the people of Gaza, and it is now cynically exploiting that suffering to shift blame onto Israel once again,” he said Tuesday.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the situation in Gaza was “intolerable” and demanded Israel end “arbitrary restrictions” on aid. And in Washington, Sen.

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