Aid to Gaza has increased dramatically but needs to be sustained, says White House
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Displaced Palestinians travelling along the coastal Rasheed road en route to Gaza City, on April 14.
PHOTO: AFP
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PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES – Humanitarian aid getting into the Gaza Strip has increased by a large amount in the last few days, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on April 15, adding that the US needs to see that aid sustained.
“The aid has increased and quite dramatically in just the last few days,” Mr Kirby said in an interview with MSNBC. “That’s important, but it has to be sustained.”
More than 2,000 trucks have been able to get in, about 100 in the last 24 hours alone, he added.
US President Joe Biden earlier in April threatened to condition support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza on it taking concrete steps to protect aid workers and civilians.
The move was prompted by an Israeli attack that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers. It was the first time the Biden administration has sought to leverage American aid to influence Israeli military behaviour.
Echoing Mr Biden, Mr Kirby added in a separate interview on CNBC: “Our policy with respect to Gaza will change if we don’t see significant changes over time.”
Six months into Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on southern Israel, the devastated Palestinian enclave faces famine and widespread disease, with nearly all its inhabitants now homeless.
Aid agencies have complained that Israel is not ensuring enough access for food, medicine and other needed humanitarian supplies.
Thousands of Gazans flooded the coastal road north on April 14, after hearing that several people managed to cross a closed checkpoint towards Gaza City, despite Israel denying it was open.
An AFP journalist saw mothers holding their children’s hands and families piling onto donkey carts with their luggage as they made the journey.
They hoped to cross a military checkpoint on Al-Rashid road south of Gaza City, but the Israeli army told AFP that reports the route was open were “not true”.
On the other side, desperate families waited for their loved ones in the rubble of the battered main city in the Palestinian territory.
Mr Mahmoud Awdeh said he was waiting for his wife, who has been in the southern city of Khan Younis since the start of the war on Oct 7.
“She told me over the phone that people are leaving the southern part and heading to the north,” Mr Awdeh said.
“She told me she’s waiting at the checkpoint until the army agrees to let her head to the north,” he added, hoping she would be able to cross safely.
During the day, rumours also spread that the Israeli army was allowing women, children and men over 50 to go to the north, a claim denied by the army.
More than 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge in the southern city of Rafah, according to the UN.
Several Gazans said they came under attack on the route, and AFP footage showed people ducking for cover.
The Palestinian official news agency Wafa said Israeli forces “bomb(ed) displaced Palestinians as they were trying to return to the north of Gaza Strip through Al-Rasheed street”.
Wafa shared a video on social media platform X, which AFP has not verified, showing people running away from a blast.
Displaced Gazan Nour told AFP: “When we arrived at the (Israeli) checkpoint, they would let women pass or stop them, but they shot at men so we had to return; we didn’t want to die.”
AFP has approached the Israeli military for comment.
Rumours spread that the Israeli army was allowing women, children and men over 50 to go to the north – a claim denied by the army.
PHOTO: AFP
‘Too little too late’
Elsewhere in Gaza, the fighting continued on April 14 after Iran launched a huge drone and missile attack on Israel
Iran’s first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory came in retaliation for a deadly strike on Tehran’s consulate
The strike that Iran blamed on Israel left seven Revolutionary Guards dead, including two generals.
But in Rafah on April 14, Palestinians told AFP that they were underwhelmed by Iran’s attack on Israel.
Mr Khaled Al Nems told AFP: “The Iranian response came so late, after 190 days of war.
“You can see our suffering.”
He added: “Their response is too little too late.”
Mr Walid Al Kurdi, a displaced Palestinian living in Rafah, said: “Iran’s attack on Israel is not really our business.”
He added: “The only thing we care about is going back to our homes.
“We are waiting for the coming 48 hours to see if (Israel) responds to Iran, or if they are playing with us and want to distract attention away from Rafah.”
Israel has said it plans to send ground forces into Rafah to eradicate remaining Hamas militants there. AFP, REUTERS
Displaced Palestinians taking the coastal Rasheed road to return to Gaza City, passing through Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.
PHOTO: AFP
