US ship carrying pier construction equipment sails towards Gaza

A US Army ship with material to build a temporary pier in Link was heading to the Mediterranean on Sunday, three days after US President Joe Biden announced plans to increase maritime aid to the besieged enclave, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are starving.

The opening of maritime corridoraccompanied by air deliveries of United States, Jordan and other countriesshowed the growing alarm about the humanitarian crisis in Link and a new intention to escape control Israel in ground deliveries.

LOOK: Preparations are advancing to deliver aid by sea to Gaza, again bombed

Israel said that it gladly accepted sea deliveries and that would inspect goods destined for Gaza before he leaves a nearby staging area Cyprus. In the last five months, the number of aid trucks that entered the territory by land was well below the 500 that arrived before the wardue to Israeli restrictions and security concerns.

About that, Biden doubled down on his public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden said he believes this Netanyahu “is hurting Israel more than he is helping Israel” in its war strategy against Hamas in Gaza, which is now in its sixth month.

Speaking on Saturday to MSNBC journalist Jonathan Capehart, the President expressed support for the right to Israel to chase Hamas following the militia attack on October 7 against southern Israelbut he said that Netanyahu “must pay more attention to the innocent lives that are being lost as a result of the actions taken.””. He added that “there cannot be another 30,000 dead Palestinians.”

In Gaza, the number of Palestinian victims continued to rise.

LOOK: Biden demands that Israel not use humanitarian aid to Gaza as a “bargaining chip”

The Department of Civil Defense said at least nine Palestinians, including children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City Saturday night.

Images shared by civil defense showed emergency teams removing dead and injured people trapped in the collapsed house. A rescue team held a dead baby before leaving the body limp on a sofa in the middle of the ruins.

Elsewhere, the main hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah received the bodies of 15 people, including women and children, on Sunday, according to an Associated Press journalist. The 15 dead were killed by Israeli artillery fire at a large camp for displaced Palestinians on the west coast of the southern city of Khan Younis, relatives said.

Israel He generally does not comment on specific incidents of the war. He took responsibility Hamas of civilian casualties because the armed group operates from residential areas.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Saturday that at least 31,045 Palestinians have died since the start of the war.. Their data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, although it indicates that two-thirds of those killed are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-led government and figures from other wars have largely coincided with those from the United Nations and independent experts.

However, US efforts to establish a temporary dock in Link for sea deliveries were launched. A first army ship, General Frank S. Bessonleft its base in Virginia on Saturday for the eastern Mediterranean with equipment to build a dock, indicated the United States Central Command.

It will likely be weeks before the dock is operationalUS officials said.

The maritime corridor has the support of the European Union, as well as U.S, UAE and other countries. The European Commission said that United Nations agencies and the Red Cross will also participate in the plan.

A ship from Spanish humanitarian group Open Arms was scheduled to make a pilot voyage to test the corridor starting this weekend. The ship was waiting in the Cypriot port of Larnaca.

The founder of Open Arms Oscar Camps said the ship, which is towing a barge carrying 200 tons of rice and flour, would take two to three days to reach an undisclosed location.

A member of the World Central Kitchen charity, which is also involved in the trial, told X that once the barge arrives LinkThe aid will be unloaded by crane, loaded onto trucks and transported by road to northern Gaza, which is largely isolated from humanitarian deliveries.

Humanitarian authorities have warned that air deliveries are not enough to cover shortages on land supply routes.

The new plan to bring more aid came on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which is determined by the lunar calendar and could begin as early as Sunday night depending on sightings of the waxing moon.

Israel declared war on October 7 after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people., mostly civilians, in addition to taking 250 hostages. The harsh Israeli air and ground campaign destroyed large areas of Gaza, displaced around 80% of its 2.3 million inhabitants and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

U.S and regional mediators Egypt and Qatar hoped to establish a six-week ceasefire once the conflict began. Ramadanbut negotiations appeared to be stalled, while Hamas demands guarantees that the temporary truce will lead to an end to hostilities.

The mediators had hoped to ease some of the immediate crisis with the temporary ceasefire, in which Hamas would have released some of the Israeli hostages it is holding, Israel would free some Palestinian prisoners, and humanitarian groups would have access for a major aid campaign in Link.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.