WASHINGTON (AP) – New U.S. trucks carrying desperately needed aid to the Gaza Strip were set up Friday as Israeli border crossing restrictions and heavy fighting impede deliveries of food and other supplies. He crossed the pier and entered the besieged enclave for the first time.
The shipment is the first in an operation that U.S. military officials expect could scale to 150 trucks per day, as Israel closes in on the southern city of Rafah in a seven-month offensive against Hamas. be. At the White House, National Security Council Press Secretary John Kirby said “more than 300 pallets” of aid initially arrived and were being handed over to the United Nations and being prepared for distribution.
Kirby said the US is getting indications that “some of the aid is already moving into Gaza.”
But the U.S., the U.N. and aid groups have warned that the floating dock project is no substitute for land transport that can bring all the food, water and fuel Gaza needs. Before the war, an average of more than 500 trucks entered the Palestinian territory per day.
The success of the operation also remains uncertain, as Israel’s blockade of Gaza has increased the risk of insurgent attacks, logistical hurdles and fuel shortages for aid trucks since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. It remains as it is. The militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage in their attacks on southern Israel. Israeli military attacks since then have killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and hundreds more in the West Bank, local health officials said.
Aid agencies say food is in short supply in southern Gaza, and the United Nations World Food Program says hunger is already widespread in northern Gaza.
Troops completed setting up the floating pier on Thursday, and U.S. Central Command announced that emergency relief forces had arrived in Gaza at 9 a.m. Friday. It was announced that no US troops landed during the operation.
The Pentagon said no backup is expected during the distribution process. Under the U.S. plan, once the United Nations leaves the docks, aid will be handled through the World Food Program. This includes coordinating the arrival of empty trucks and their registration, supervising the transfer of incoming supplies through the floating docks to trucks and dispatch to warehouses across Gaza, and finally moving supplies for delivery. This includes handing over to aid organizations.
Britain says part of its aid to Gaza will be included in the first consignment to land, including the first of 8,400 kits to provide temporary shelter made of plastic sheeting. said. Further assistance is expected to follow in the coming weeks, including an additional 2,000 shelter kits, 900 tents, five forklifts and 9,200 hygiene kits.
“This is the culmination of a huge joint international effort,” Chancellor Rishi Sunak said, adding: “We know sea routes are not the only answer. We need to open more land routes, including cross-country routes.” Aid safely reaches civilians in urgent need. ”
A U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said aid distribution had not yet begun as of Friday afternoon. The official said the work of unloading and reloading the cargo was still underway.
The United Nations Humanitarian Aid Coordination Agency said the start of the operation was welcome but was not a replacement for deliveries by road.
“I think everyone involved in the operation has said that: all aid to Gaza is welcome, no matter the route,” Jens Ralke, a spokesman for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters in Geneva on Friday. ” he said. Aid to the people of Gaza “cannot and should not depend on floating docks far from where the need is most acute.”
Anastasia Moran, vice president of the International Rescue Committee, argues that the pier is actually distracting people from the growing humanitarian crisis.
Over the past few months, “maritime routes have taken up time, energy and resources while aid has not scaled up,” she said. “And now that the sea route has opened, the land route has effectively been closed.”
A total of 154 trucks carrying food and 156 trucks carrying flour entered Gaza through three land routes during the nine-day period from May 6, when Israel launched its Rafah offensive, to May 15, UN official Farhan said.・Deputy Press Secretary Haq made the announcement on Friday. Haq warned this week that there was little fuel available.
Israel is concerned that Hamas will use the fuel in its war, but Hamas insists there are no restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid and blames the United Nations for delays in distributing supplies to Gaza. Under pressure from the United States, Israel has opened two borders in recent weeks to allow aid to reach its hard-hit northern territory.
It said a series of Hamas attacks on the key crossing Kerem Shalom had disrupted the flow of goods. The United Nations says fighting, fires in Israel and the chaotic security situation are hampering deliveries. There were also violent protests by Israelis, and aid shipments were disrupted.
Israel recently seized the Rafah border crossing amid attacks on Hamas around the city of Rafah on the Egyptian border, raising concerns for the safety of civilians, while also blocking the main entry point for aid into the Gaza Strip. I cut it off.
US President Joe Biden has ordered the pier project, which is expected to cost $320 million. The aid supplies loaded onto the boats are deposited at a port facility built by the Israelis just southwest of Gaza City. The United States is working closely with Israel on how to protect ships and personnel working on its shores.
Concerns over the safety of aid workers were brought into focus last month when seven World Central Kitchen rescue workers whose travel arrangements were made with Israeli authorities were killed in an Israeli airstrike. The group also brought aid by sea.
Pentagon officials said they would closely monitor the security situation and could prompt the closure of maritime routes, even temporarily. The site has already been targeted by mortar fire during construction, and Hamas has threatened to attack foreign forces that “occupy” the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military is in charge of land security, but there are also two U.S. Navy warships nearby, which can protect U.S. soldiers and others.
Aid supplies shipped by sea are collected and inspected in Cyprus, then loaded onto ships and transported some 320 kilometers to a large floating pier off the coast of Gaza. There, the pallets are transferred to trucks, boarded by army boats, and transported back and forth from the pier to a floating causeway anchored to the shore. The truck exits the aid and returns to the boat.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Jamie Keaten in Geneva, Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, Jill Lawless in London, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, and Darlene Superville and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed.
