Israel Agrees to Special Request from the United States to Facilitate Humanitarian Aid to Gaza

A humanitarian aid truck from Egypt entered Gaza via Rafah. (Twitter/@PalestinineRCS)

JAKARTA - Israeli authorities conveyed their latest thoughts on a potential attack on Rafah in a meeting with United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, where the US side asked many "tough questions," according to a senior White House official.

The official noted that both sides will continue discussions, but Israel has taken Washington's input and concerns into account as they move forward with the plan, while both sides have a common goal of destroying Hamas.

As part of US discussions with Israel, US officials also made a series of "specific requests" regarding humanitarian assistance to Gaza, Palestine which they have agreed to implement, according to the official.

One such request included helping facilitate aid distribution by getting Israel to agree to allow aid screened in Cyprus to be sent directly to the Israeli port of Ashdod, bypassing Egypt.

"I think the negotiations were quite constructive and now we want to see some of the agreed things happen here in the next few days," said the official, reported by CNN, May 22.

The official revealed that just today, more than 370 aid packages were distributed in Gaza, according to the official.

After the discussions, it became clear the process was "still ongoing" to reconcile what the two-state post-conflict phase would actually look like after the fighting is over, as Uncle Sam's country discussed the idea with other Arab countries and Israel, the official said.

"How it turns out in the end, I just don't want to get ahead of it because there are so many different ideas. That's one of the reasons why this is so complicated. There are different ideas in Israel, there are different ideas in different Arab capitals. But I think, we're starting to understand a concept that seems workable And that kind of addresses the interests and views of many different constituents here," he said.