United States President Joe Biden, who was on a visit to Israel on Wednesday, announced a $100 million humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. Biden, in an address during his brief visit, said that the people of Gaza need food, water, medicine and shelter.
He also said that he has urged the Israeli cabinet to agree to the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.
The funding will help support over a million displaced and conflict-affected people with clean water, food, hygiene support, medical care, and other essential needs, a White House statement read.
“The United States provides humanitarian assistance through trusted partners including UN agencies and international NGOs,” it added.
“Civilians are not to blame and should not suffer for Hamas’s horrific terrorism. Civilian lives must be protected and assistance must urgently reach those in need,” the statement said.
The US will continue to work closely with partners in the region to stress the importance of upholding the law of war, supporting those who are trying to get to safety or provide assistance, and facilitating access to food, water, medical care, and shelter.
Meanwhile, the US assessed that Israel was not responsible for the attack on a Gaza hospital a day earlier, the White House said on Wednesday.
“The US government assesses that Israel was not responsible for an explosion that killed hundreds of civilians yesterday at the Al Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip,” White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
“Our assessment is based on available reporting, including intelligence, missile activity, overhead imagery, and open source video and images of the incident,” she said.
Watson, citing intelligence reports, said some Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip believed that the explosion was likely caused by an errant rocket or missile launch carried out by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
“As the President said earlier today, the explosion appears to be the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza — and we are continuing to work to corroborate whether it was a failed PIJ rocket,” she said.
Gaza’s al-Ahli hospital late on Tuesday witnessed a deadly strike. Palestinian officials said that the strike killed 471 people and blamed on what they said was an Israeli air strike. Biden’s eight-hour visit took place a day after the hospital bombing.
Retaliatory Israeli strikes after the Hamas attacks have reportedly killed more than 3,000 Palestinians. Meanwhile, about 1,400 people have been killed and 200 have been held as hostages in the aftermath of the October 7 attack on Israeli villages and military bases by Hamas.
(With inputs from agencies)
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