War between Israel and Hamas: almost 100 trucks with humanitarian aid arrived in Gaza through an American temporary pier

The installation of a temporary US pier on the Gaza coast allowed 97 truckloads of humanitarian aid to be unloaded in a week, a UN official said on Friday, noting that the operation had stabilized after a “difficult start”.

Last week, the United States completed construction on the pier, which President Joe Biden announced in March. The move is intended to ease Israeli restrictions on the delivery of aid overland to the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by a seven-month war sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

906 trucks have entered Gaza since May 7

Since the first unloading on May 17, the UN World Food Program (WFP), which is responsible for the operation to unload cargo arriving from Cyprus, has “taken possession of 97 trucks”, Stephane Dujarric, a UN spokesman, said on Friday. Secretary General Antonio Guterres. During the first two days, the public themselves removed the contents of “a number of trucks” heading to WFP warehouses, he added, adding that the agency did not lose a single truck.

Earlier this week, he explained that last weekend, trucks crossing into areas where there was “no help” and where famine threatens were stopped by the population, who “took whatever they could” for fear of not seeing the precious goods again. Now “the operation has been stabilized, WFP has found various routes to reach its warehouse in Deir al-Balah,” he assured on Friday. Once the aid arrives at the warehouse, it is handed over to UN agencies or non-governmental organizations for distribution.

Since the start of the Israeli operation in Rafah on May 7, “the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip has been very limited,” the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) commented in a press release.

Egypt will allow UN aid to Gaza through Israel

Between May 7 and May 23, “a total of 906 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza through all operational crossings, including 143 through the Kerem Shalom crossing, 62 through Erez, 604 through Erez West and 97 through the floating pier,” – Ocha said.

Ocha does not account for the arrival of private sector trucks passing through Kerem Shalom, private goods that the head of the UN refugee agency says the Israelis are now prioritizing. To “save lives,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi pledged in a phone call to Joe Biden to “allow humanitarian aid” into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, the White House said Friday. .

The White House indicates that the American president, for his part, is “fully committed” to working on the opening of another important crossing point – Rafah, the only point between Egypt and Palestinian territory. Israel, which has been conducting military operations in Rafah, took control of the border crossing in early May, blocking the passage of humanitarian aid.