Title: Urgent Call for Humanitarian Aid to Reach Gaza: USAID Administrator Announces $53 Million Aid Package
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator, Samantha Power, made an appeal on Tuesday for increased assistance to reach the people in need inside Gaza. In her announcement, she declared that the US would provide an additional $53 million in humanitarian aid to support the war-torn strip and the West Bank.
The majority of this fresh allocation will be channeled towards food assistance, as more than two million people in Gaza face an imminent risk of famine according to Power. In a taped message at a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Amman, Jordan, she emphasized that the aid must reach those in desperate need.
Power highlighted the urgency to resolve the current bureaucratic bottlenecks and inspection delays, increase the number of access points into Gaza, and ensure protection for aid workers risking their lives to deliver food to people in critical situations.
Despite her upcoming travel to Israel and the West Bank, US officials have expressed concern that the current amount of aid entering Gaza is insufficient. Last week, only 85 trucks a day were able to enter through Rafah crossing, Power mentioned, down from 500 before the conflict started.
Previously reported by various media outlets including CNN, aid convoys have faced Israeli fire while attempting to deliver essential supplies to Gaza. United Nations (UN) officials claim that Israeli forces target Hamas-run police officers accompanying the UN aid convoys, putting their lives at risk and consequently halting their protection of the convoys from looting.
US envoy for Middle Eastern humanitarian issues, David Satterfield, acknowledged that there is a need to find a balance while working with the Israeli government and military to ensure secure and safe delivery of assistance to Gaza. He added, “We cannot allow Hamas to be empowered, but there is a way ahead where we can continue the aid and help the people of Gaza.”
Despite the challenges, Power reiterated her commitment to finding solutions, stating that “We can get it into Gaza. We can move hundreds of truckloads of assistance a day over the border to warehouses. What we cannot do right now is see that assistance effectively moved to the people in Gaza in a secure and safe manner.”
