{"id":53163,"date":"2024-05-17T22:22:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T22:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/17\/aid-starts-entering-gaza-through-u-s-built-pier-but-officials-say-it-isnt-enough\/"},"modified":"2024-05-17T22:22:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T22:22:03","slug":"aid-starts-entering-gaza-through-u-s-built-pier-but-officials-say-it-isnt-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/17\/aid-starts-entering-gaza-through-u-s-built-pier-but-officials-say-it-isnt-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Aid Starts Entering Gaza Through U.S.-Built Pier, but Officials Say It Isn\u2019t Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/17\/multimedia\/17mideast-crisis-ledeall-1-zbfl\/17mideast-crisis-ledeall-1-zbfl-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Aid Starts Entering Gaza Through U.S.-Built Pier, but Officials Say It Isn\u2019t Enough\" title=\"Aid Starts Entering Gaza Through U.S.-Built Pier, but Officials Say It Isn\u2019t Enough\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Trucks of humanitarian aid began moving ashore into Gaza early Friday via a temporary pier <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/26\/us\/politics\/gaza-aid-pier.html?\" title=\"\">built by the U.S. military<\/a>, the first supplies of aid to be sent into the enclave by sea in two months. But the new shipments of food and other supplies fall far short of what humanitarian groups say is needed to meet the staggering levels of hunger and deprivation in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A day earlier, the U.S. military said it had anchored <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/04\/27\/world\/middleeast\/gaza-pier-israel-hamas-war.html\" title=\"\">the floating pier and causeway<\/a> to the beach in Gaza, a key step in completing a maritime corridor <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/07\/world\/middleeast\/us-gaza-pier-ships-aid.html?\" title=\"\">that the Pentagon announced in March<\/a>. U.S. officials and international aid groups have said that sea shipments can only supplement deliveries through land crossings, not replace them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">No U.S. troops entered Gaza on Friday, the U.S. military said, emphasizing that it was providing only logistical support for delivery of the supplies, which were donated by a number of countries and organizations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The war-torn territory of 2.2 million civilians is more reliant than ever on humanitarian aid. The devastation after seven months of Israeli bombardment, strict Israeli inspections and restrictions on crossing points had already severely limited what could enter. And over the past week and a half, since Israel began a military assault around the city of Rafah, the flow of supplies through the main land crossings in southern Gaza had been reduced to a trickle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Aid agencies continued to report increasingly dire conditions in Gaza. Janti Soeripto, president and chief executive of Save the Children U.S., told The New York Times on Friday, \u201cWe have never ever seen anything like this anywhere in the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel has come under pressure from the Biden administration and other allies to do more to ease the entry of aid, with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken warning this week that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/15\/world\/middleeast\/israel-rafah-border-gallant-blinken.html\" title=\"\">recent improvements in relief delivery were being undercut<\/a> by fighting in and around Rafah.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">More than 630,000 Gazans have fled Rafah since Israel began its military offensive there on May 6, according to the main U.N. agency that aids Palestinians. Many have been displaced to the central city of Deir al Balah, which the U.N. agency, known as UNRWA, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/UNRWA\/status\/1791364209386660152\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said on social media<\/a> was now \u201cunbearably overcrowded with dire conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This week, top diplomats of 13 countries \u2014 including every member of the Group of 7 industrialized democracies except the United States \u2014 said in a joint letter, a copy of which was seen by The New York Times, that Israel must take \u201curgent action\u201d to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The letter, addressed to Israel\u2019s foreign minister, calls on the Israeli authorities to expand the amount of aid entering the territory, take \u201cconcrete action\u201d to protect civilians and work toward a \u201csustainable cease-fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Friday, at a hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, lawyers representing Israel defended the military operation in Rafah as \u201climited and localized,\u201d arguing that the judges should not seek to restrict Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The hearings at the court, the U.N.\u2019s highest judicial body, are part of a case filed by South Africa in December that accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In late January, the court <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/26\/world\/middleeast\/icj-israel-gaza-genocide.html\" title=\"\">ordered Israel to do more<\/a> to prevent acts of genocide, but it is not expected to hear the main case over whether genocide is being committed until next year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last week, South Africa asked the judges to issue an emergency order aiming to prevent wide-scale civilian harm in Rafah. Lawyers for <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/16\/world\/middleeast\/icj-rafah-israel-gaza-south-africa.html\" title=\"\">South Africa argued at the court on Thursday<\/a> that Israel\u2019s Rafah operation was \u201cthe last step in the destruction of Gaza and its Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Friday, Gilad Noam, the Israeli deputy attorney general for international law, repeated Israel\u2019s fierce rejection that it was committing genocide in Gaza. He said the Israeli authorities were working to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid and to protect civilians amid fierce combat across the enclave, including in Rafah.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIsrael is taking steps to try and contend with the massive complexity that such a situation presents,\u201d Mr. Noam told the judges. \u201cThat is why there has not been a large-scale assault on Rafah, but rather specific, limited and localized operations prefaced with evacuation efforts and support for humanitarian activities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel\u2019s military has said it is working with the U.S. military to support the temporary pier project as a \u201ctop priority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The supplies that began arriving Friday were a fraction of the need in Gaza: food bars for 11,000 people, therapeutic food for 7,200 malnourished children and hygiene kits for 30,000 people, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. The British government said it had sent 8,400 temporary shelters made up of plastic sheeting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMore aid will follow in the coming weeks, but we know the maritime route is not the only answer,\u201d Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain said in a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/uk-aid-delivered-to-gaza-shore\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was not immediately clear where in the enclave the aid would be delivered or when. The U.N. World Food Program said in a statement that it would handle logistics in Gaza for aid coming through the pier, including coordinating trucks, overseeing the loading of supplies, dispatching them to warehouses and handing them over to \u201chumanitarian partners.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Pentagon officials said they were initially aiming to deliver about 90 trucks of aid by sea each day, increasing that to about 150 trucks when the operation reached capacity. Some 500 trucks of commercial goods and aid arrived in Gaza each day before the war began last October.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III spoke about the maritime corridor in a call with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, on Thursday, according to the Pentagon. Mr. Austin stressed the need to \u201csurge\u201d humanitarian assistance to Gaza through land border crossings in addition to the pier, according to the department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of the Central Command, said the pier would only complement the flow of aid through land crossings, which he emphasized were \u201cthe most efficient and effective pathway to move the necessary volume of assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One of Gaza\u2019s two main crossings for aid, in Rafah on the border with Egypt, has been closed since Israel began its military operation against Hamas fighters there. Israel shut down the second major crossing, at Kerem Shalom, after a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/05\/world\/middleeast\/hamas-rocket-kerem-shalom-israel.html\" title=\"\">Hamas rocket attack<\/a> nearby killed four Israeli soldiers last week. That crossing has since reopened, Israel says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">An aid group, World Central Kitchen, built a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/25\/world\/middleeast\/gaza-aid-ship-jetty.html\" title=\"\">makeshift jetty<\/a> in mid-March to deliver aid by sea to Gaza for the first time in nearly two decades. But those efforts came to an abrupt stop in early April after seven of the group\u2019s workers <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/25\/dining\/jose-andres-wck-workers-gaza.html\" title=\"\">were killed in an Israeli strike<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/17\/world\/middleeast\/food-aid-gaza-pier.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trucks of humanitarian aid began moving ashore into Gaza early Friday via a temporary pier built by the U.S. military, the first supplies of aid to be sent into the enclave by sea in two months. But the new shipments of food and other supplies fall far short of what humanitarian groups say is needed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/17\/multimedia\/17mideast-crisis-ledeall-1-zbfl\/17mideast-crisis-ledeall-1-zbfl-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[41,8767,43,13441,120,38801,6462,52811],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53165,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53163\/revisions\/53165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}