US Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power acknowledged on Tuesday that humanitarian aid into Gaza had risen sharply in the past few days, and said the higher level of aid should be sustained and increased further.
"We are seeing a sea change, which we hope is sustained and expanded upon," Power said at hearing of the US Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees US diplomatic and foreign assistance spending.
Israel said 468 aid trucks moved into Gaza on Tuesday, following 419 on Monday. That was the highest number in the six months since its air and ground campaign triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, but the United Nations said it was still much less than the bare minimum to meet humanitarian needs.
"We need to go way beyond the 500 trucks," Power said.
"We have famine-like conditions in Gaza and supermarkets filled with food within a couple of kilometers away," she said at the hearing, which focused on the agency's fiscal 2025 budget request.