US pushing for Gaza aid to continue after ‘pause’ expires

The United States expects the humanitarian assistance that has flowed into the Gaza Strip during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to continue after the temporary halt to hostilities expires later this week, Biden administration officials have said.

On Monday, Qatari officials said the ceasefire that began over the weekend would be extended an additional two days after Hamas agreed to turn over more of the hostages it seized during the 7 October terrorist attacks on Israel in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners being released from Israeli jails in the West Bank.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters that the extended pause would permit a continuation of what the official described as “significant progress in terms of humanitarian access and the flow of humanitarian assistance” that began shortly after President Joe Biden visited Israel last month.

Since that visit, the official said more than 2,000 trucks bearing needed humanitarian aid have passed through the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, containing “food, water, medical assistance and shelter supplies, as well as critically needed fuel”.

The extended pause has allowed for an additional 800 trucks to enter Gaza, as well as for needed medical supplies to reach Northern Gaza, which has been the target of most of Israel’s military operations since the war began last month.

According to the senior Biden administration official, who briefed reporters on relief efforts late Monday, those trucks are being augmented by a trio of US military planes that will arrive in Egypt bearing “a series of items” including “medical items, food aid, and winter items”.

“These will be delivered by the United Nations to civilians in need in Gaza,” said the official, who added that these latest airlifts build on five previous planeloads that were delivered with US help via civilian transport aircraft.

“We are continuing of course, to work with our regional allies and our humanitarian partners to ensure that the assistance that we bring in continues to flow is sustained and that we are able to continue to increase it over time,” they said.

But the top Biden administration official, who has been deeply involved in negotiations over the humanitarian aid issue, warned that the supplies that have been permitted to pass into Gaza are “nowhere near enough for normal life” there, and said the White House would “continue to push for additional steps” to increase the flow of material into Gaza, including “the restoration of the flow of commercial goods and additional basic services”.

A second official told reporters that the influx of aid during the humanitarian pause in hostilities is not being linked to the ceasefire itself or the release of hostages, though the temporary pause has been taken advantage of to allow for the maximum amount of goods to be trucked into the territory.

“What we are doing stands on its own. And when this current phase of hostage releases is over, we have made very clear that this level or increased levels ideally needs to be sustained,” they said.