A first ship carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza was on its way Thursday to a floating platform built by the U.S. military. The plan is for cargo to be transferred at the pier to smaller U.S. boats that will deliver it to shore. The Rafah border crossing with Egypt has been shut down since Israel’s military took control of the Palestinian side early Tuesday. The operation closed a main entry point for aid. Civilians in Rafah have been thrown into panic and chaos by the possibility of a full-scale Israeli invasion of the overcrowded city. Tens of thousands of displaced and exhausted Palestinians have packed up their tents and other belongings and left for other parts of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu minister on Thursday said his country will “stand alone” if it has to in its war against Hamas — threatening to deepen a crisis in relations with the United States. Netanyahu spoke after President Joe Biden said the United States would not provide offensive weapons for Israel’s long-promised assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Israel says that Rafah is Hamas’ last stronghold in Gaza and Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to invade the city, despite widespread international opposition due concerns over the more than 1 million Palestinian civilians are huddled in the city. “If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone,” said. “If we need to, we will fight with our fingernails."

Thousands of protesters gathered in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over his government’s decision to hand over control of border villages to Armenia’s long-time rival Azerbaijan. Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars since the Soviet Union collapsed and Armenia said in April that it would return the villages to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan in September waged a lightning military campaign in Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian region. That caused tens of thousands of people to stream into Armenia, sparking demonstrations as protesters called for the prime minister to be ousted.