Gaza (Union)
Yesterday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the movement of the first humanitarian aid via the temporary floating dock into the Gaza Strip. Centcom said in a statement: “At approximately nine o’clock in the morning Gaza time, trucks loaded with humanitarian aid began moving toward the beach through the temporary pier in Gaza,” stressing that “no American forces reached the beach in Gaza.”
She added that the operation comes as part of an ongoing multinational effort to provide additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza through the sea corridor, which is entirely humanitarian in nature, which includes aid donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organizations.
The day before yesterday, Centcom’s leadership announced the completion of the installation of the temporary floating dock on the Gaza coast and expected the start of operations to transport humanitarian aid into the Strip in the coming days.
American officials working at the United States Agency for International Development, an independently operating government agency that manages civilian foreign aid provided by the United States worldwide, revealed that the delivery of aid will be gradually intensified, through the route planned to be launched from the Cypriot port of Larnaca. In parallel, relief agencies are taking experimental steps to verify the possibility of safe distribution of supplies, and to protect the teams involved in these efforts as well.
According to American officials, the benefits of this sea route, which was inaugurated for the first time in mid-March, will not be limited to bringing in the necessary food supplies to stave off the threat of starvation for the residents of Gaza, who face almost complete food insecurity, but will also include the shipments transported through it. Medicines and treatments for hundreds of thousands of children, who are also starving.
In this context, the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday that humanitarian aid provided to the Gaza Strip should not depend on a floating dock far from the places most in need, stressing that land routes are the most feasible for delivering aid.
This came in statements by the spokesman for the United Nations Office (OCHA), Jens Laerke, during a press conference held at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
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