US military aircraft bring humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip to Egypt
The USA wants to use the extended ceasefire between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. From Tuesday, three military planes loaded with medical aid, food and winter equipment will fly to Egypt, said US government representatives from the White House.
The first plane is due to arrive on Tuesday, with the other two to follow "in the next few days". These are the first aid deliveries from the US army to the Gaza Strip since the brutal attack on Israel by the radical Islamic group Hamas on October 7.
The aid is to be distributed locally by UN organizations. US President Joe Biden had previously stated that he would use an extension of the ceasefire between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas to deliver more aid to the Gaza Strip. According to him, the ceasefire enabled a "significant increase" in aid deliveries.
Israel and other countries such as Turkey and Jordan had previously sent aid to the Gaza Strip. According to US figures, a total of 800 aid shipments from Egypt reached the southern Gaza Strip in the first four days of the ceasefire, with some of them also arriving in the north of the Palestinian territory. "The aid deliveries over the last four or five days have been so large that an increase is now needed, and these planes are part of that increase," said another US official.
Washington has deployed two aircraft carriers in the region and provided military support to key ally Israel. The US ally, the Gulf emirate of Qatar, which plays a key role in mediating between Israel and Hamas, announced on Monday that it would extend the original four-day ceasefire by a further two days, paving the way for the release of more hostages abducted by the Islamists in the Gaza Strip.
The hostages were abducted from Israel into the Gaza Strip during the brutal attack by the Islamist Palestinian organization on 7 October. Hundreds of fighters from Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU, had invaded Israel and, according to Israeli figures, killed around 1,200 people and taken 240 hostages. Israel then began launching massive attacks on targets in the Gaza Strip from the air and on the ground. According to Hamas, which cannot be independently verified, almost 15,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since then.
The humanitarian aid, including medicine and food, is intended for direct distribution within the Gaza Strip by UN organizations. This is not the first time the US military aircraft have delivered aid to the Gaza Strip; they last did so following the harsh attack by Hamas on Israel. Additionally, the us military aircraft carrying winter equipment are expected to assist the Gaza Strip residents amidst the ongoing situation.
Source: www.ntv.de
