US forces working with Israel on Gaza aid
Emily Rose |
US forces are taking part in overseeing and co-ordinating aid transfers into the Gaza Strip together with Israel as part of President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the US-led Civil-Military Co-ordination Center (CMCC) will replace Israel in overseeing aid into Gaza.
It cited a US official and people familiar with the matter as saying Israel was part of the process but that CMCC would decide what aid enters Gaza and how.
The Israeli security official said that Israeli security services remain part of policy, supervision and monitoring with decisions made jointly, and that the integration of the CMCC was already underway.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Jerusalem told Reuters that the US was “working hard, in tandem with Israel and regional partners, on the next phases of implementing” the president’s “historic peace plan”. That includes co-ordinating the immediate distribution of humanitarian assistance and working through details.
The US is pleased by the “growing contributions of other donors and participating countries” in the CMCC to support humanitarian aid to Gaza, the spokesperson said.
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed a month ago to a first phase of a peace plan presented by Trump. It paused a devastating two-year war in Gaza triggered by a cross-border attack by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, and secured a deal to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The CMCC began operating from southern Israel in late October, tasked with helping aid flow and stabilising security in Gaza, according to the US Central Command.
While the truce was meant to unleash a torrent of aid across the tiny, crowded enclave where famine was confirmed in August and where almost all the 2.3 million inhabitants have lost their homes, humanitarian agencies said last week that far too little aid is reaching Gaza.
Israel says it is fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire agreement, which calls for an average of 600 trucks of supplies into Gaza per day. Reuters reported on October 23 that Washington is considering new proposals for humanitarian aid delivery.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of people killed there since the war began has risen to 69,169. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.
The ministry said 284 people were added to the total after their identities were verified between October 31 and November 7.
The latest jump in deaths occurred as more bodies are recovered from the rubble in the devastated Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began on October 10, and as previously unidentified bodies are identified. The toll also includes Palestinians killed by strikes since the truce took hold, which Israel says target remaining militants.
Israel on Saturday returned the remains of another 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials in the territory, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel. He was identified as Lior Rudaeff, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Rudaeff was born in Argentina.
The exchanges are the central part of the ceasefire’s initial phase, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. Families and supporters rallied again Saturday night in Tel Aviv for the return of all.
And over the past three days, 10 bodies were brought to Gaza hospitals – nine retrieved from under the rubble and one newly killed, the ministry said. Since the ceasefire began, 241 people have been killed in Gaza, it said.
The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. It began with the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed about 1200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
with AP
Reuters
