The international community is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an investigation into responsibilities after a tragic distribution of humanitarian aid during which Israeli fire and a stampede left 115 dead according to Hamas. Joe Biden announced on Friday that the United States would participate “in the coming days” in humanitarian aid drops on the Gaza Strip, where 2.2 million people, the vast majority of the population, are threatened famine, according to the UN.
Also, a UN team said it found “a large number” of gunshot wounds in a Gaza hospital after Israeli soldiers fired into the crowd near a humanitarian aid convoy, a tragedy that puts highlighted a desperate situation in the Palestinian territory.
Information to remember:
- The United States announced its intention to participate in humanitarian aid drops on the Gaza Strip “in the coming days”
- The international community calls for a ceasefire
- Israeli shooting and stampede during humanitarian aid distribution kill 115, Hamas figures show
A truce hoped for by Biden
The American president also said he hoped for a truce between Israel and the Islamist movement by Ramadan, the Muslim holy month which begins on the evening of March 10 or the 11th. “But we’re not there yet,” he said. -he warned while speaking to journalists. Particularly in the north of the Palestinian territory, fighting and looting make the delivery of aid almost impossible. The cargoes, subject to the green light from Israel which has imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip since Hamas took power there in 2007, only arrive in very limited quantities, mainly from Egypt via Rafah.
According to the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), only an average of 96 trucks entered the territory daily over the past week. “It’s a fraction of what’s needed,” Samantha Power said. “We are going to insist that Israel facilitate the entry of more trucks and increase the access routes to Gaza… There is really not enough aid arriving in Gaza,” Joe Biden said.
Several countries have already dropped aid shipments, including Jordan with the support of several countries including France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as Egypt, in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates. “Airdrops cannot and must not replace humanitarian access,” the NGO International Rescue Committee (IRC) commented on Saturday. War and shortages have notably brought the Palestinian health system to its knees. Ten children have died of “malnutrition and dehydration” in recent days, the Hamas Ministry of Health said on Friday.