By Daphne Psaledakis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. aid chief Samantha Power arrived in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, where she announced more than $21 million in additional assistance for the Palestinian people affected by the conflict between Israel and Islamist group Hamas.
The USAID administrator arrived in Al Arish with a delivery of 36,000 pounds of food assistance and medical supplies airlifted by the Department of Defense from Jordan and intended for Gaza, according to a statement.
The additional assistance Power announced on Tuesday will support the provision of hygiene and shelter supplies, food and other assistance for residents of Gaza and the West Bank affected by the conflict, according to a separate statement.
The funds will also support psychosocial care and critical health services along with the establishment of a NGO-operated field hospital in Gaza that will provide in-patient care.
Only a fraction of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational due to Israeli bombing and a lack of fuel, and those still functioning are increasingly overwhelmed by new waves of wounded.
“The United States continues to work around the clock to overcome diplomatic and operational hurdles for humanitarian access, present solutions to emerging humanitarian assistance challenges, and significantly scale up this response to where it needs to be,” USAID said in the statement.
The Gaza health ministry has said that at least 15,899 Palestinians, 70% of them women or under 18, have been killed in Israeli bombardments of the Hamas-ruled enclave in eight weeks of warfare. Thousands more are missing and feared buried in rubble.
Israel launched its assault to wipe out Hamas in retaliation for an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas gunmen who killed 1,200 people and seized about 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies – the deadliest single day in Israel’s 75-year history.
Intense Israeli air strikes hit the south of the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, including in areas where Israel had told people to seek shelter, residents and journalists on the ground said.
“Military operations need to be conducted in a way that distinguishes fighters from civilians,” Power said, as she called for civilians to be protected and humanitarian assistance to be scaled up.
While in Al Arish, Power will meet with officials and Egyptian and international humanitarian organizations working to speed up assistance into Gaza, according to the statement.
She will raise Washington’s commitment to the protection of civilians and the need for humanitarian supplies to exceed the levels reached during the humanitarian pause.
Fighting between Israel and Hamas resumed on Friday after a seven-day pause to exchange hostages and prisoners and deliver humanitarian aid.
U.S. officials, in public and private, have repeatedly urged Israel to minimize civilian casualties in southern Gaza because of the high toll incurred in northern Gaza military operations.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Don Durfee, Stephen Coates and Mark Porter)
