File Photo: Workers unload humanitarian aid at Egypt s al-Arish Airport on November 22, 2023, ahead of being transported to the Rafah border area with the Gaza Strip. AFP
Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development, made the call in a statement Thursday, as a carefully negotiated truce and captives release began in the Gaza Strip.
Power called the truce “a direct result of US diplomacy with our partners in the region.”
With 1.7 million people in Gaza internally displaced and virtually all of the 2.3 million people there needing aid, “the scale of humanitarian needs in Gaza is staggering,” Power wrote.
“It is both urgent and imperative that lasting mechanisms be put in place to significantly accelerate the pace of sustained aid into Gaza,” Power wrote.
As the largest donor to UN assistance in Gaza, the US also is urging other countries to fund emergency appeals from the United Nations for urgent assistance for Gaza’s civilians, Power said.
* This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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