US calls for civilian protection, unrestricted aid flow in Gaza
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In a phone call with Yoav Gallant, Lloyd Austin stresses the need to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but reaffirms unconditional support for 'Israel'.
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Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant, right, speaks during a joint statement with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, in occupied Palestine, December 18, 2023. (AP)
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin emphasized the need to protect civilians in Gaza, as well as ensure the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into the Strip, during a phone call with Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant.
In an immediate release published by the Pentagon on Friday, Austin stressed the need to increase humanitarian aid entering Gaza through the Rafah and Karem Abu Salem crossings. He also updated Gallant on the developments entailing the US pier for the alleged delivery of humanitarian aid.
This comes after the US CENTCOM announced the installation of a temporary pier.
In a post on X, CENTCOM said, "Today at approximately 7:40 a.m. (Gaza time) [4:40 GMT] United States Central Command personnel supporting the humanitarian mission to deliver additional humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in need anchored a temporary pier to the beach in Gaza."
"As part of this effort, no U.S. troops entered Gaza. Trucks carrying humanitarian assistance are expected to begin moving ashore in the coming days. The United Nations will receive the aid and coordinate its distribution into Gaza," it added.
The phone call was also embellished with US reassurances of its ironclad support for "Israel" and the unrealistic goal of defeating Hamas, following a discussion regarding the recent efforts exerted to release Israeli captives.
US says Hamas far from beaten despite mass casualties, destruction
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned that even a full-scale ground attack on Rafah would fall short of the aim of "eliminating" Hamas.
During an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Blinken expressed that the Israeli government was "on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left or, if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas."
He added that even after a Rafah invasion "there will still be thousands of armed Hamas left," adding that "we’ve seen, in areas that Israel has cleared in the north, even in Khan Younis, Hamas coming back."
He decried the "horrible loss of life of innocent civilians," days after Biden admitted that the Israeli occupation had killed civilians in Gaza using bombs supplied by the US, marking the first instance of such an admission by any US official since the genocidal war on the Strip began last October.
Read more: US halts shipment of 3,500 bombs to 'Israel' amid Rafah invasion: ABC
