US, EU launch corridor to deliver aid to Gaza
The European Union announced a maritime humanitarian corridor Friday in partnership with the United States, the United Arab Emirates and others to deliver desperately needed aid into Gaza, where reports of children, some less than a month old, dying of malnutrition have risen.
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, speaking from Cyprus, where preparations were being inspected, said a ship carrying humanitarian aid will head to Gaza on Friday to test the sea corridor.
The announcement comes after President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. military, in coordination with international partners, to construct a temporary port on the coast of Gaza that would take in large amounts of humanitarian aid. It could take several weeks to build the pier and begin delivering supplies, U.S. officials said.
The new strategies to get aid into Gaza, including humanitarian airdrops by the U.S. and other countries, signals growing frustration with how Israel is conducting its offensive.
Meanwhile, negotiations for a temporary cease-fire ahead of the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, appeared to break down. On Thursday, Hamas said its delegation left Cairo, Egypt, where talks were being held until next week.
Israel can’t use humanitarian aid as ‘bargaining chip,’ Biden says
During his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden said Israel must do more to get desperately needed aid into Gaza and, in a statement directed at Israel’s leadership, said “humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip.”
“More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are not Hamas. Thousands and thousands are innocent women and children,” Biden said before Congress. “Nearly 2 million more Palestinians under bombardment or displaced. Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin. Families without food, water, medicine. It’s heartbreaking.”
During his speech, Biden said Israel has a right to defend itself but has a “fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.”
Reports of malnutrition-related deaths rise across the Gaza Strip
The U.N. has warned for months of a looming famine, especially in northern Gaza, which has largely been cut off from aid.
At least 20 people have died from malnutrition and dehydration at the north’s Kamal Adwan and Shifa hospitals, according to the Health Ministry. Most of the dead are children – including those as old as 15 – as well as a 72-year-old man. At the Emirati Hospital in Rafah, 16 premature babies have died of malnutritionrelated causes over the past five weeks, one senior doctor told The Associated Press.
“The child deaths we feared are here, as malnutrition ravages the Gaza Strip,” Adele Khodr, UNICEF’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said earlier this week.