The US military completed the installation of the floating pier in Gaza on Thursday, and officials are ready to begin delivering much-needed humanitarian aid to the enclave besieged during seven months of intense fighting in Israel’s war with Israel. Hamas.
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US Central Command/PA
The US military completed the installation of the floating pier in Gaza on Thursday, and officials are ready to begin delivering much-needed humanitarian aid to the enclave besieged during seven months of intense fighting in Israel’s war with Israel. Hamas.
US Central Command/PA
Aid groups are warning of a looming crisis in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where they have had no food to distribute since the Rafah border crossing closed more than a week ago, so even as the first humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza via a temporary dock built by the United States
“In Rafah, we are running out of food,” says Matthew Hollingworth, country director of the UN World Food Program in the Palestinian territories. He says the group still has food in other areas of Gaza, but those reserves are also running low. “We have to be very careful about what we do with it. We have to target specific communities that have the greatest needs and we have to prioritize what we give.”
The Rafah crossing from Egypt had served as a lifeline, facilitating the delivery of aid to the estimated 1.3 million people who had taken refuge in the southern Gaza city, most after fleeing the fighting in the north and center – until Israeli forces took control of the city. the crossing last week. The Rafah border post has since been closed and only a small amount of aid has arrived through other border posts.
The UN says more than 630,000 people have fled Rafah as the Israeli military steps up operations in the city. Humanitarian groups have also evacuated and are rebuilding many of their kitchens in central Gaza.
Once the U.S. dock is at full capacity, it will be able to accommodate approximately 150 aid trucks per day. “It will certainly help, but it will not be on a sufficient scale to meet the extraordinary needs of the population,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, told NPR’s Steve Inskeep.
But while experts warn that famine has already taken root in some areas of northern Gaza and starvation is severe across the enclave, he said the pier “will not replace land crossings.”
The pier is north of Rafah. Lazzarini notes that “our real challenge today is to actually move food and assistance inside the Gaza Strip because of the military operation.”
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