US State Department Spokesperson Tommy Piggott said the US administration expects humanitarian aid to enter the besieged Gaza Strip by the end of this month, and is working to enable the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to carry out this complex task and establish the necessary mechanisms to implement it.
Responding to a question from a Al-Quds newspaper reporter regarding the latest developments regarding the entry of aid into Gaza, which has not received any aid since March 2, Piggott said, "The United States wants to alleviate the suffering of Gaza's citizens and ensure they receive the aid they need through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation."
In response to a question from a Jerusalem correspondent regarding a timetable for the entry of this long-awaited aid, given estimates that Gaza is on the brink of famine, the spokesman said at a press conference on Thursday: "We are working to have this aid enter by the end of the month (May)."
Bigot refused to answer questions about the nature of this organization, who is behind it, and whether it is American or Israeli.
It's worth noting that the United Nations announced Thursday that it will not participate in a US-backed humanitarian aid plan for the Gaza Strip, considering it "inconsistent with the principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence" to which the international organization is committed.
"I have made it clear that we engage in aid operations that are consistent with our core principles," Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN, told reporters. "We have repeatedly said that this distribution plan is not consistent with our core principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, and independence, and we will not engage in it."
These statements come as the Gaza Relief Foundation, a Washington-backed organization, prepares to begin operations in the Strip before the end of May. The plan faces widespread criticism from humanitarian and human rights organizations, who fear that aid will be politicized or obstructed.
In the same context, the Foundation called on Israel to allow the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies to resume delivering aid to Palestinians until they are fully operational.
For his part, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said that Israel will not fund the new US-led humanitarian operation, but will work to "facilitate and enable it."
In Antalya, Turkey, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed his country's concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, stressing that "the United States is not indifferent to the suffering of the people of the Strip." He noted that aid has not reached Gaza since March 2, saying, "We are open to any constructive alternatives for delivering aid, provided it is not seized by Hamas."
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Washington announces that humanitarian aid will enter the Gaza Strip by the end of May.