The US military is responsible for transporting three batches of essential supplies to Al-Arish City (North Sinai Province, Egypt), the gathering point for aid for the Gaza Strip. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed that the first batch of supplies arrived early on November 29 (Vietnam time).
Aid is loaded onto trucks bound for Gaza Strip
US leads aid efforts
Announcing on defense.gov , Brigadier General Pat Ryder, Pentagon Press Secretary, confirmed that at the request of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the aid shipments were delivered to the logistics center in Al-Arish City by US Air Force C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft.
From Al-Arish, the aid continues to be transported by road into the Gaza Strip and is being distributed by UN agencies to people in the conflict zone. Brigadier General Ryder said there would be more similar flights in the coming days.
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The latest aid delivery follows a US-led airlift of more than 226.7 tonnes of food last week, delivered by USAID contract aircraft. The US has mobilized $100 million for humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by the Hamas-Israel conflict since October 7, making it by far the largest donor to the region.
After the first shipment of the new batch arrived, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said the increased aid to Gaza, made possible by a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, should become the "new normal" for people in the region.
"Increasing aid to Gaza is absolutely critical and that's why we're working with our international partners to take advantage of every opportunity we can during this ceasefire, and also to ensure that the flow of trucks and aid continues, and that this becomes the new normal," CNN quoted Power as saying.
USAID chief Power estimated that about 240 trucks have been entering Gaza each day since the ceasefire took effect on November 24. She said her goal is to increase the number of trucks and focus on providing fuel and winter supplies as the weather gets colder. She also hopes to restart commercial flows in addition to aid shipments.
CIA-Mossad chiefs discuss future of Gaza ceasefire deal
Regarding maintaining aid shipments as fighting resumes, the USAID director said the US is discussing this possibility with Israeli officials.
Possibility of extending ceasefire
November 30 is the date for the end of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Qatar continues to mediate to find a way to extend the agreement between Hamas and Israel. Yesterday, AFP quoted a source familiar with the matter as saying that Hamas "has informed Qatari mediators that it is ready to extend the ceasefire by four days" to free more hostages.
According to Reuters, Israel said it could extend the deal after Hamas continued to release at least 10 Israeli hostages a day. Negotiators in Doha (the capital of Qatar) said the number of women and children held by Hamas warranted a two-day extension of the truce, before discussions turned to men and soldiers.
Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on his X account (formerly Twitter name) that infrastructure shortages and lack of access to medicines are causing the disease to spread in the Gaza Strip. According to Mr. Tedros, more than 110,000 people have acute respiratory infections, more than 70,000 people have diarrhea, and thousands of people have rashes, impetigo, chickenpox, jaundice, etc.
The WHO chief called on all sides to continue to extend the ceasefire and seek improvements to prevent the health disaster that is threatening the people of Gaza.
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