A U.S. warship sailed to the Mediterranean on Sunday to begin construction of a temporary dock on the Gaza coastline to provide access for more trucks to deliver humanitarian aid to hungry Palestinians, but officials said it could take two months . The facility is built and operational.
Military Central Command stated General Frank S. Besson The ship set sail from the U.S. base in mid-Atlantic Virginia, less than 36 hours after President Joe Biden announced the humanitarian aid operation during his State of the Union address Thursday night.
The final plan is to ship more food and medical supplies from nearby Cyprus to Gaza’s makeshift terminal after Israeli forces inspect the cargo to ensure it does not contain weapons belonging to Hamas militants, as the war against Israel enters its sixth moon.
The temporary terminal is needed because Gaza has no port infrastructure and has been under an Israeli naval blockade since Hamas took control of the enclave in 2007. From that time on, very few ships arrived directly by sea.
A Spanish charity ship carrying food aid is expected to set sail from Cyprus soon. NGO Open Arms said its ships would carry 200 tons of food, and its partner, the US charity World Central Kitchen, would unload the cargo on the Gaza coast, where it has built a basic terminal.
Meanwhile, a hoped-for ceasefire for the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins with the first sighting of the new moon on Sunday and Monday, has yet to be reached.
Hamas negotiators left Cairo talks last week but said they would resume talks in the coming days to discuss a possible six-week pause in the fighting in Gaza – the release of some of the 100 remaining hostages held by the militants in exchange for those held by the government. Dozens of Palestinians. A significant increase in Israeli and humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza – just some of the terms discussed.
Hamas and Israel have both accused each other of failing to reach a ceasefire, with Israel demanding the names of hostages held by Hamas and militants calling for a full end to the war, although Israel has vowed to eliminate any trace of Hamas. Rule Gaza.
The conflict began on October 7 when Hamas launched a shocking terrorist attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and resulting in the capture of approximately 240 hostages. Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom were women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli military says it has killed thousands of militants.
The United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are starving, and because of Israeli restrictions and security concerns, the number of aid trucks entering Gaza by land every day in the past five months has been far lower than the 500 that entered before the war.
this U.S. Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a joint humanitarian aid airdrop into northern Gaza on Sunday, dropping more than 11,500 meals and other food items including rice, flour, pasta and canned goods into the area.
But officials say airdrops are not enough to meet Gaza’s huge food needs. Days earlier, five people had been killed after being struck by food trays.
As the war intensifies, U.S. President Joe Biden has stepped up his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s oversight of the war, although he still supports Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas.
Biden told MSNBC on Saturday that he believed Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping it” due to the high number of Palestinian civilian deaths.
The US leader said Netanyahu “must pay more attention to the innocent lives lost as a result of the actions taken”. He added, “You cannot allow another 30,000 Palestinians to die.”
In Gaza, Palestinian casualties continue to mount. An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City late Saturday killed at least nine Palestinians, including children, Gaza officials said.
Video shared by the Civil Protection showed first responders rescuing the dead and injured trapped in collapsed houses. A rescue worker held a dead baby before placing his limp body on a couch amid the wreckage.
On Sunday, 15 bodies, including women and children, were taken to the main hospital in central Deir al-Balah, the Associated Press reported.
Relatives said they were hit by Israeli artillery fire targeting a large tent camp for displaced Palestinians on the eastern coast of the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel rarely comments on specific incidents during the war. It holds Hamas responsible for civilian casualties because the armed group operates in civilian areas.
This report contains information from The Associated Press, Reuters and AFP.
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