(Washington) The first American military plane loaded with aid for the Gaza Strip, out of three planned, arrived in Egypt on Tuesday, at a time when Washington is showing its desire to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory at war.
“The humanitarian needs in Gaza require the international community to do much more. The United States is committed to this effort,” Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said Tuesday.
The latter, accused by activists of sacrificing the Palestinians in the name of supporting Israel, will strive to “mobilize the international community to urgently increase its support” for Gaza, Jake Sullivan added in a statement.
The planes, the other two of which will follow “in the coming days”, are loaded with medical and food aid as well as winter equipment, which will be distributed by the United Nations, according to White House officials.
According to them, Joe Biden, who presents himself as the first supporter of Israel, is also “the spearhead of international efforts to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza”.
The C-17 plane that landed in Egypt on Tuesday is loaded with 24.5 tons of medical equipment and foodstuffs, according to the United States Development Agency (USAID). Their transfer to Gaza must be carried out by the UN.
” Not enough ”
One of the White House officials estimated that the amount of humanitarian aid arriving by road in the Gaza Strip had increased, now totaling 2,000 truckloads of food as well as fuel, medicine and equipment necessary for operations. seawater desalination infrastructure.
“In just over four weeks, we reached a sustained rate of 240 trucks per day,” said one of the managers.
He assured that the aid delivered and the fuel provided were “not linked to the release of hostages” by Hamas, even if “we obviously made the most of the pause” in progress.
Israel and Hamas have decided to extend a truce observed since Friday in Gaza, a Palestinian territory besieged and devastated by seven weeks of Israeli bombings, in retaliation for the bloody attack launched on October 7 by Hamas in Israel.
This truce, the first since the start of the war, notably allowed the release of 60 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
“We have made it very clear that when this phase of releasing the hostages is over, the current rate (of aid delivery), or ideally higher rates, must be maintained,” added the American official, who did not did not wish to be identified.
However, he judged that the current rate of 240 trucks per day was “not sufficient to regain a semblance of daily life for civilians” and that it would be necessary to move to a new phase involving the entry of “commercial goods”, to reach between 300 and 400 trucks per day.
Avoid “new trips”
According to the same source, the American authorities informed Israel that it was “very important” that their military offensive, when it extends to the south of the Palestinian territory, be carried out in such a way as to avoid “new significant population displacements.” “.
Such a scenario “would exceed the capacities of any humanitarian aid network,” he said.
Some 1.7 of Gazans’ 2.4 million people have already been displaced by the war, fleeing the territory’s north to the south.
According to Israeli authorities, 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, were killed during the attack launched by Hamas commandos infiltrated from the Gaza Strip.
In retaliation, Israel promised to “annihilate” Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel, relentlessly bombing the Palestinian territory and launching a ground offensive on October 27, until the truce. in progress.
In Gaza, 14,854 people, including 6,150 under the age of 18, were killed by Israeli strikes, according to the Hamas government.
Already subject to an Israeli land, sea and air blockade since 2007, the overpopulated territory is now placed under siege by Israel and is experiencing severe shortages of water, food, fuel, medicine and electricity.