British aid shipment leaves Cyprus for Gaza
A British shipment of nearly 100 tonnes of aid has left Cyprus, bound for a temporary pier built by the US military off the coast of Gaza, according to the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office.
The shipment – which comprises 8,400 temporary shelters made up of plastic sheeting – will be part of the first delivery of aid to the pier.
The UK Foreign Office noted the maritime corridor was not a replacement for land routes, which remain the quickest and most effective way of getting aid into Gaza. “We continue to urge Israel to meet its commitment to allow at least 500 aid trucks to cross into Gaza through land crossings and open as many routes as possible, including [the port of] Ashdod,” it said.
That's 5 to 7 trucks worth of aid, and seems to be mostly plastic shelters. Way too little. I guess it's a start.
CENTCOM announces Gaza floating aid pier has been anchored
The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced that a new US-built, temporary humanitarian aid pier was anchored to the beach in Gaza this morning. It said trucks carrying humanitarian assistance are expected to “begin moving ashore in the coming days”, with the aid set to be received and distributed by the UN.
Today at approximately 7:40 a.m. (Gaza time) United States Central Command personnel supporting the humanitarian mission to deliver additional humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in need anchored a temporary pier to the beach in Gaza. As part of this effort, no U.S. troops… pic.twitter.com/048seMnkLJ
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 16, 2024
Danger, uncertainty lie ahead for US effort to bring in aid through floating pier
The US is aiming to have a floating pier off the coast of Gaza operational within the coming days, but relief groups are warning that the plan – which aims to boost aid deliveries – faces the same challenges that they do, namely a lack of safety and fuel.
“Once you get food or supplies into the Gaza Strip, whether it’s from the pier or [border] crossing points, there is no security and … there’s no fuel,” Bob Kitchen, the International Rescue Committee’s vice president for emergencies, told the Reuters news agency.
And because land crossings could bring in all the needed aid if Israeli officials allowed, the US-built pier and sea route “is a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist”, said Scott Paul, an associate director of the Oxfam humanitarian organisation.
“Like all of the land crossings, it comes down to the consent of the government of Israel” on allowing aid through its screening process and ensuring aid teams are safe to distribute it within Gaza, Paul told The Associated Press news agency.
UN food agency’s supplies in Gaza ‘will run out in a matter of days’
The World Food Programme (WFP) said any further escalation in Israel’s incursion into Gaza’s Rafah City “could precipitate a humanitarian catastrophe and bring aid operations to a complete standstill”.
The agency said its food and fuel stocks in Gaza will run out “in a matter of days”, noting that it has not been able to access and receive aid from the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing since May 6. The Rafah crossing in southern Gaza meanwhile remains closed.
“The situation is becoming unsustainable,” it said. “The threat of famine in Gaza never loomed larger.”
Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid shortages of aid supplies, after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah, on May 8
There were 6 trucks on May 11 that entered from Kerem Shalom, nothing else from May 6 to May 15. Still no information on anything that enters from the North, Erez crossing.
WFP suspends food distribution in Rafah
The UN’s food agency says it has run out of stocks in southern Rafah and has suspended food aid distributions there since May 11. Food deliveries are still ongoing in Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah, it said, but in a limited capacity.
