Above photo: US Embassy in Jerusalem.
The Israeli army has killed over 150 Palestinians since the US-brokered ‘peace plan’ took effect last month.
The US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), established by Washington last month, is replacing Israel as the “overseer” of humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, the Washington Post reported.
According to informed sources, the first weeks of operations have been “chaotic and indecisive.”
A US official said Israel remains “part of the conversation” but overall decisions will be made by the new center, established weeks ago in Kiryat Gat – a city just north of the besieged strip.
“The move relegates Israel to a secondary role in determining how and what humanitarian relief can enter Gaza as CMCC takes the lead,” other familiar sources told the outlet.
More than 40 countries are participating in the US-led center.
“One of the benefits … of bringing them all together is that enables you to really sort through fact from fiction and get a clearer understanding of what is happening on the ground, where the needs lie,” US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins said.
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said having the US in charge of aid is a “very good thing” because Israel has been “blocking the Trump plan’s humanitarian clauses.”
“Our appeal is to make the plan a reality,” Egeland added. “Of course, the credibility of the US is at stake here.”
There are no indications on what Israeli restrictions, if any, will be lifted now that Washington has assumed control of aid.
“The Americans will be integrated into the formulation and implementation of coordination, supervision, and control mechanisms in the context of humanitarian aid, in full cooperation with the Israeli security services,” said the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli body which has traditionally overseen aid operations.
However, unnamed Israeli officials told the Post that “this does not constitute a transfer of authority or responsibility from COGAT to the Americans.”
The officials said there is “no change in policy.”
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a deadly, US-Israeli aid scheme responsible for the killing of thousands of Palestinians – halted operations as part of Trump’s ‘peace plan’ for Gaza.
As part of the agreement, 600 aid trucks must enter Gaza every day. Yet Israel continues to severely restrict the entry of aid.
Only 28 percent of the required number of aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since the US ‘peace plan’ was announced, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
The office said in a statement on Thursday that Israel is carrying out “its policy of strangulation.”
According to the statement, only 4,453 trucks have been allowed into Gaza out of the 15,600 trucks that were supposed to enter as part of the agreement.
While the US-led CMCC is meant to oversee the ceasefire agreement, aid remains critically low, and over 150 Palestinians have been killed since the truce was reached.
The New York Times (NYT) reported in late October that the US military began operating surveillance drones over Gaza.
According to Israeli and US officials, the operation aims to verify that both Hamas and Israel are adhering to the terms of the truce. The aircraft are controlled from the newly established US command center in Kiryat Gat.
