New humanitarian route to Gaza on schedule – USAID

The US is getting ready to help people in Gaza with food, medicine, and other urgent help. They plan to have everything ready by the middle of the month.

The new route led by the US will give help to only a few people in Gaza, not all who need it. This was emphasized by a USAID official to The Associated Press. This is one of the first times the agency has said how things are going for the Biden administration’s $320 million Gaza pier project. USAID is working to make sure the project is safe and things are getting to the right places.

At a factory in southern Georgia, USAID Administrator Samantha Power will announce on Friday a $200 million investment to increase US production of emergency food for hungry children under 5. This is needed because conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and other places are causing more children to go hungry.

USAID allowed one of the workers in Gaza to be interviewed, but asked that the person remain anonymous because of security reasons related to their work in conflict areas.

The war between Israel and Hamas has been going on for almost seven months, and Israel is not allowing enough food and supplies to reach Gaza. As a result, half of Gaza’s 2. 3 million people are in danger of not having enough food to eat, according to health officials from other countries. Under pressure from the US and other countries, Israeli officials have started to slowly open some border crossings to allow relief shipments to come in.

Young children under 5 are some of the first to die when there is not enough food because of wars, droughts, or other disasters. Officials at a hospital in northern Gaza said that the first people died from not having enough food in early March. They said that most of the people who died were children.

USAID is working with the UN World Food Program, Israel, and others to make sure the pier is safe and food can be delivered easily. The US military is also helping to build the pier so that aid can be sent by ship. President Joe Biden felt pressure to help the people in Gaza because of the bad situation there. The US gives military help to Israel, and President Biden announced a project to help Gaza in March.

The US Central Command said on Friday that putting together the floating pier in the water has stopped for now because strong winds and big waves are making it dangerous for the soldiers. The half-built pier and the military ships are now at the Port of Ashdod and will keep working there.

A person from the US government said the installation will be delayed for a few days because of rough seas. It might not happen until later next week. The person in charge, who didn’t want their name to be shared, said that the break in the operation might last even longer if the weather stays bad because the military and divers need to go in the water to finish the work.

The United Nations has not spoken much about its role in giving aid to people.

“We want to see more activities on land. ” “This is a sea mission,” said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Wednesday. “We are helping them, but they need to follow certain rules, like being independent and not involved in the military. ”

The problems with giving first aid through a newly opened land path to north Gaza on Wednesday showed the unsureness about safety and the risk for aid workers. Israeli people living in occupied territories stopped the group of vehicles from passing through. Then, Hamas fighters changed the direction of a World Food Program truck in Gaza before it reached where it was supposed to go.

A factory in Fitzgerald, Georgia was producing a special nutrient-packed paste, and it was one of only two factories in the US making it. The ready-to-use therapeutic food, RUTF, is made to save the lives of children under 5 who are extremely hungry. It is given to them in a hospital or clinic.

In Gaza, they really need paste in the northern part of the area. Regular people are not getting much help, getting bombed by Israel, and have to hide because of the fighting.

The number of young children who are very malnourished has gone up a lot, from 1% to 30% in just five months because of the war, according to the USAID official. The official said it was the quickest increase in hunger in recent history, even faster than in serious conflicts and food shortages in Somalia or South Sudan.

One of the only hospitals in northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan hospital, is overwhelmed with parents bringing in many sick children with malnutrition for help, according to the official. Aid workers think there are many hungry children who aren’t getting help because their families can’t get them to places with food and medical care because of the fighting and checkpoints.

We need to give more help to the very hungry children and make sure there is no fighting so that aid workers can help them and their families get the treatment they need.