Israel has still not done enough to resolve the hunger crisis in Gaza and famine could be imminent, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in Washington on Thursday, even as she explained that the IDF had taken some significant steps to improve the situation.“The past few days have shown some promise,” Jean-Pierre said as she listed steps Israel has taken, including promising to open the Erez Crossing, allowing goods bound for Gaza to be unloaded at the Ashdod Port, and increasing aid deliveries from Jordan.“Over the past few days, over 1,000 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid have gotten into Gaza, with over 300 trucks going into Gaza yesterday,” she said.
“It’s still not enough and we hope to see the progress continue and accelerate,” Jean-Pierre stressed. The Biden administration has warned Israel that if it does not very quickly ensure the delivery of the proper amount of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza, Washington would change its policies about the war.The US has been concerned about reports that Palestinians were facing starvation. Jean-Pierre said that the latest reporting from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification “indicates that the famine is imminent in Gaza.”
“That’s why we’re trying to do everything that we can” to bring in aid, because “we know how dire the situation is in Gaza. We’re going to continue to push Israel to increase the flow that is getting into Gaza,” she stated.But the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which is tasked with overseeing humanitarian assistance entering Gaza, said the problem has been the United Nations, which has failed to distribute the goods..
COGAT points finger at UN, cites distribution failure
There are “600 humanitarian aid trucks awaiting collection by the UN on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing – in such a manner that prevents the admission of further trucks into the Gaza Strip,” it stated in a message to the media.COGAT posted a video on X of the stationary goods stacked on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, explaining that the goods were simply “waiting to be collected and distributed by the United Nations agencies.Israel has increased the flow of goods, it said, but the UN “must do the job it has been entrusted with.”In Washington, when asked who was responsible for the aid debacle, Jean-Pierre said that the Biden administration was focused on getting assistance in.Among the issues in the distribution of aid has been the danger facing humanitarian workers due to the fighting between Hamas and the IDF. Two weeks ago seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen were accidentally killed in an IDF airstrike.