TEHRAN (Iran News) –A spokesperson for the Palestinian group Hamas has told Al Jazeera that the US plan to build a temporary port off Gaza’s coast to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave “is a step in the right direction”.
“From our side, governmental bodies are ready to help distribute the aid to the people who need it,” he said, adding that he was hopeful the initiative would “alleviate the suffering caused by this humanitarian catastrophe”.
However, he added that the proposed plan was “not the shortest and easiest way” to deliver aid to Gaza and that several questions remain on the logistics and who will operate the pier.
“The Americans have to pressure Israel to open all borders, the sea, the air and the ground, to allow people to get what they need,” he said.
The spokesperson rejected Israel’s repeated claims that aid entering the Strip would benefit Hamas fighters, saying, “Israel as an occupying power has a duty under international law to care for the lives of civilians”.
He stated that Hamas was not “a group of fighters but a legitimate representative of the vast majority of Palestinians” whose main goal is to “secure the aid for our people”.
President Joe Biden said during his State of the Union address on Thursday night the US Army will construct a temporary pier on the Gazan coast in order to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave.
More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October, according to local Hamas-run authorities. Almost 90% of Gaza’s pre-war population have become refugees, with UN aid chief Martin Griffiths warning last week that life is “draining out of Gaza at terrifying speed”.
Israel has rejected calls for a comprehensive ceasefire, insisting on its goal to completely “eliminate” Hamas in Gaza.
- source : IFP
