United States Urges Israel to Maximize All Means to Increase Aid to Gaza

Palestinian refugee camps in southern Gaza. (UNRWA/Ashraf Amra)

JAKARTA - United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday urged Israel to maximize "every possible means" to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza, saying the situation in the densely populated Palestinian enclave was unacceptable.

Speaking before his meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Washington D.C, Foreign Minister Blinken also said that currently there is an opportunity to quickly reach a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, but the responsibility lies with Palestine.

"Israel must maximize every possible means, every possible method to distribute aid to people who need it," explained Minister of Foreign Affairs Blinken, as reported by Reuters, March 6.

On that occasion, Minister of Foreign Affairs Blinken repeated President Joe Biden's administration's call for Israel to open new border crossings, to allow more humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

"It requires more crossings. It requires more aid to come in. And once that aid comes in, we need to make sure that it gets to the people who need it. So we're going to continue to push for it every day because of the current situation, unacceptable," said Foreign Minister Blinken.

It is known that famine is now looming over the besieged Gaza Strip as aid supplies, which have been greatly reduced since the start of the war, have dwindled to almost nothing over the past month.

All areas in this region do not receive any food supply at all. The few functioning hospitals in Gaza, which were already overwhelmed with the wounded, are now filled with children who have died of starvation.

Secretary of State Blinken's comments came as ceasefire talks in Cairo, considered the final hurdle to achieving a 40-day truce between Hamas and Israel in time for the start of the holy month of Ramadan, continued, but without a clear breakthrough.

"We have an opportunity to quickly implement a ceasefire that could bring the hostages home, which could dramatically increase the amount of humanitarian aid that goes to the Palestinians who desperately need it. It is Hamas who must make the decision whether or not they are ready to engage in that ceasefire," "explained Minister of Foreign Affairs Blinken.

"Qatar, the United States and our partners will always be persistent in ensuring this deal is realized," said Sheikh Mohammed while standing next to Blinken.

Sheikh Mohammed, who is also Qatar's Foreign Minister, visited Washington to attend the latest round of the US-Qatar Strategic Dialogue, a comprehensive negotiating mechanism in which the two sides will discuss their military, economic and political relations.