GAZA (Dispatches) – Hamas says that there is no alternative to opening land crossings under Palestinian supervision for delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, including the newly-anchored floating aid pier.
The confirmation comes following the start of operations by the U.S.-built aid pier off the coast of Gaza City, according to local Palestinian sources.
Any means of aid delivery, including the aid pier, is not a substitute for opening all land crossings under Palestinian supervision, Hamas said in a press statement.
It emphasized the right of the Palestinian people to receive all necessary aid amid the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the occupation on the Gaza Strip.
It also reiterated the rejection by Hamas and all Palestinian factions of any military presence of any force on Palestinian territories.
Earlier, local Palestinian sources told Xinhua that a ship carrying humanitarian aid had reached the shores of the Strip, while smaller boats began unloading their cargo and delivering it to the aid pier west of the city.
Dozens of trucks were reported waiting on the coastal strip to be loaded with aid and transported to warehouses belonging to the United Nations (UN) in the Strip.
Meanwhile, the sources noted that another group of ships are on the way to the shores of Gaza, with expectations to unload their cargo soon.
Palestinian sources said that international relief organizations, led by the World Food Program (WFP) operating in the Strip, would be responsible for receiving and distributing the aid to local residents.
The United States announced earlier Friday that trucks carrying humanitarian aid had reached the coast of the Gaza Strip through the floating maritime port it had constructed.
The Palestinian resistance group rejected Washington’s establishment of the pier as a publicity stunt “to beautify its ugly face”.
“The floating water dock off the coast of Gaza does not meet the needs of our Palestinian people for food. We demand the opening of land crossings and the immediate and urgent entry of aid and goods through them,” the Gaza government media office said in a statement.
The Gaza government announced in the statement that the “American administration is trying to beautify its ugly face and appear civilized by establishing a floating water dock off the coast of Gaza City, claiming its purpose is to deliver humanitarian aid and food to our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, who are subjected to policies of starvation, forced displacement, and genocide carried out by the ‘Israeli’ occupation army, with active participation, full involvement, and real endorsement from the American administration”.
“Since the start of this genocidal war, the U.S. has continued to supply the occupation with over 200,000 rockets and bombs, some weighing 2,000 pounds of explosives, used by the occupation to annihilate entire residential neighborhoods. This has resulted in over 35,000 martyrs, more than 79,000 wounded, and 10,000 missing,” the statement read.
“We question the intentions of the American administration, which is managing and perpetuating the genocide war, forming a protective wall for the ‘Israeli’ occupation, and continuing its absolute support for the war against civilians,” it added.