‘Days’ until Gaza aid jetty ready – White House
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said that constructions for the jetty in Gaza, aimed at speeding up the flow of humanitarian aid from Cyprus, should be open ‘in a matter of days’, it emerged on Friday.
Despite poor weather hampering preparations, efforts to have the jetty ready as soon as possible continue unhindered, he specified.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said he did not see any indications that Hamas was planning any attack on US troops in Gaza but added adequate measures were being put in place for the safety of military personnel.
“I don’t see any indications currently that there is an active intent to do that,” Austin said during a press briefing. “Having said that … this is a combat zone and a number of things can happen, and a number of things will happen,” he said.
The United States has called on both Israel and Hamas to ensure that aid bound for civilians in Gaza is not disrupted, after a shipment from Jordan was attacked by Israeli settlers and subsequently diverted by Palestinian militants.
Any aid sent to Gaza is first inspected in Larnaca by Israeli authorities for security purposes.
Last week, 400 tonnes of aid departed from Cyprus and reached the port of Ashdod in Israel. The shipment was seen as a resumption of the Amalthea humanitarian corridor, after a hiatus following the killing of seven World Central Kitchen staffers in an Israeli attack.
An Israeli strike hit a convoy carrying a WCK team which had just unloaded more than 100 tons of food aid brought to Gaza via the maritime route from Cyprus.
President Nikos Christodoulides at the time pledged the humanitarian aid corridor Amalthea would continue despite Israel’s “reprehensible attack.”