Just In: US officials warns aid not reaching Gaza
The head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, said she accepted "credible" reports that famine is already occurring in northern Gaza.
Under heavy US pressure, Israel has promised to ramp up aid to Gaza dramatically, saying last week it would open another cargo crossing and surge more trucks than ever before into the besieged enclave.
But there are few signs of those promises materialising and international officials say starvation is widespread in hard-hit northern Gaza.
Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, said this week she accepted “credible” reports that famine is now occurring in the area and urged Israel to take further steps to expedite humanitarian aid shipments.
Power is not the first senior US official to describe the situation of hunger and malnutrition in Gaza. Last week in Brussels, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that all Gazans were suffering from severe food insecurity.
"100 per cent of the population of Gaza is experiencing acute levels of food insecurity. 100% of the population is in need of humanitarian aid," Blinken said.
In addition, US President Joe Biden said this week that Israel is not doing enough to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israeli shelling and ground offensives have killed at least 33,360 Palestinians in Gaza and injured 74,993, according to the Gazan health ministry, which adds that women and children account for two-thirds of the dead.
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