US urges resumption of aid to Gaza as Israeli blockade continues
WASHINGTON
The US on Thursday said it wants humanitarian aid to resume in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues to block the entry of aid since March 2.
“We want the aid to resume. We want humanitarian supplies and assistance to resume as long as it can be safely moved in and there’s no looting and people aren’t getting mugged and it’s not being stolen,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters during a daily press briefing.
Her remarks came after President Donald Trump last week told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be “good” to the “suffering” residents of the besieged Gaza Strip.
“Those people are suffering. We got to be good to Gaza. We’re going to take care of that,” Trump said. “There’s a very big need for medicine, food and medicine, and we’re taking care of it.”
Bruce said Washington is working to address the logistical and security challenges that have hindered aid operations in the besieged enclave.
“There are some standards about when you’re going to send somebody into essentially a war zone, and I don’t think that’s a very high bar,” she said, “At the same time, what are we doing? Well, the president of the United States is engaging in this as well.”
Meanwhile, the UN on Thursday said that humanitarian efforts in Gaza are severely constrained as Israeli military operations intensify, with over 423,000 Palestinians displaced yet again, “with no safe place to go in Gaza.”
Israel has closed Gaza’s crossings since March 2, blocking essential supplies from entering the enclave despite multiple reports of famine in the war-devastated territory.
The Israeli army renewed its assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with the Palestinian group, Hamas.
More than 52,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
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