US President Joe Biden has announced that the US military will establish a temporary port for the Gaza Strip, to speed up the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The move is aimed at preventing a possible famine situation in the besieged Palestinian territory. Due to the Israeli military campaign against Hamas for the last five months, there have been 2.3 million civilians badly affected and it is being said that a humanitarian tragedy has already been born in the Gaza Strip.
How is the famine in Gaza?
Earlier, the United Nations warned that a famine situation may arise in Gaza. The international organization complained of extraordinary difficulties in the delivery of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
Aid agencies are calling on Israel to allow access to Gaza for the delivery of aid supplies and to ensure the safety of aid convoys. On the other hand, US President Joe Biden is facing intense pressure from his Democratic Party to force Israel to take more steps to help deliver aid to Gaza.
At the same time, Israel has said that there is no restriction on the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. Israel blames the slow pace of aid operations on the United Nations.
It is important to note that the aid was reaching Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah crossing, while since December it has been being delivered through the Israeli crossing of Karim Sholom. The United Nations complains that it faces severe difficulties in the delivery and distribution of aid due to border closures, restrictions on movement, broken roads, and other problems.
Several countries, including the United States and Jordan, have airdropped food and aid supplies into the Gaza Strip.
The European Commission has also said that a humanitarian corridor from Cyprus to Gaza will soon be operational to deliver humanitarian aid. However, it is currently unclear how this corridor will work.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that aid shipments from Cyprus to Gaza by sea would begin by the end of this week.
New Israeli settlements are a ‘war crime’:
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said that a record number of new Israeli settlements have been established in the occupied Palestinian territories and the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state is practically disappearing.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, called the new settlement of Jews in the occupied Palestinian territories a ‘war crime’.
Last month, Israel announced new settlement projects in the West Bank. The US administration also said that the new Israeli settlement is not compatible with international law.
Violence and related violations by (Israeli) settlers have escalated to alarming levels and threaten the prospect of a Palestinian state,” Volker Turk said in a statement on Friday. They are making victims.
