US aid flights entering Gaza but ‘not connected to hostage deal’: NSC
- More humanitarian aid to enter Gaza via 5 relief flights
- Israel, Hamas agreed to temporary cease-fire in exchange for hostage release
- 'The amount of aid coming in will continue and increase': NSC
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(NewsNation) — To assist with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the United States is sending relief flights with supplies, the White House National Security Council confirmed Tuesday.
In an effort to accelerate getting aid into Gaza, three U.S. military planes carrying medical supplies, food and winter clothing will arrive in Egypt near the border with Gaza.
Two more planes will follow, and the United Nations will deliver the supplies to Gaza.
The Biden administration has three major initiatives for Gaza:
- Expand humanitarian access
- Reinstate essential services including water
- Create mechanisms to keep civilians safe during Israeli military operations
During Biden’s visit to Tel Aviv last month, Israel announced an agreement to allow limited humanitarian aid into Gaza through Egypt, including $100 million in aid from the U.S.
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The State of Qatar announced Monday that an agreement has been reached to extend the temporary cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war for two additional days.
Every single day of the cease-fire, there’s been a “surge” of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, said John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the NSC. In total, 2,000 trucks with aid have been sent to the territory since Oct. 21.
“Our team has prioritized this much-needed relief into Gaza to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians there, of course, most of them have nothing to do with Hamas,” Kirby said.
A spokesperson for NSC said the aid and fuel that has been provided is “not connected to the hostage deal; it stands on its own.” And “the amount of aid coming in will continue and increase.”
Since the exchange of hostages and prisoners between Israel and Hamas during the ongoing cease-fire, concerns have emerged as to what comes after.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would welcome extending a temporary truce if it meant that on every additional day, 10 more captives would be freed. Hamas also expressed interest in extending the truce.
“The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas seeks to extend the truce after the 4-day period ends, through serious efforts to increase the number of those released from imprisonment as stipulated in the humanitarian ceasefire agreement,” the group said in a news release.
NewsNation’s Damita Menezes contributed to this report.