Washington, DC [US]: The White House on Tuesday announced that the first humanitarian aid flight facilitated by the US military is set to arrive in Egypt for civilians in Gaza amid the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas.
It is worth mentioning that the temporary truce has been extended by two days on Monday. Since Friday, the pause in the deadly fighting in Gaza has allowed for some hostages held by Hamas to be released and for a surge of humanitarian aid to get into Gaza.
It is notably going to be the "first of three flights" that are facilitated by the US military to bring medical supplies, food, and winter necessities to prepare for the impending winter in Gaza, The Hill reported.
The UN will subsequently distribute these supplies to the civilian population.
According to The Hill, a senior administration official told reporters that this is the first of three relief flights that would be "facilitated by the unique capabilities of the US military that will be arriving into North Sinai in Egypt.
The next two flights with humanitarian aid "will be coming in the coming days," the official said further.
Since the start of the crisis, the United States has sponsored five commercial aircraft that have delivered products into Egypt; however, they are the first flights that are made possible by the military.
The military aircraft are en route to Egypt in the midst of Israel and Hamas's two-day extension of their brief ceasefire in Gaza.
The cease-fire in the deadly fighting in Gaza that began on Friday has made it possible for a large amount of humanitarian assistance to enter Gaza as well as the release of several captives held by Hamas. Military aircraft carrying supplies are an addition to the 200 or so trucks that travel into Gaza every day to bring food, water, and gasoline, according to The Hill.
According to the White House, the decision to send military aircraft into the Middle East was made in response to the necessity to backfill supplies due to the increase in the flow of products into Gaza during the halt.
"The movement over the last four or five days of assistance has been so significant in volume that a backfill into El-Arish is now needed. These planes are part of that backfill," The Hill quoted the official as saying.
El-Arish is a city in North Sinai, Egypt, where the United Nations will transfer humanitarian aid from the United States into civilian areas in Gaza.
The Israel-Hamas truce will be extended by two days, and
Qatar and the US confirmed the extension of the Israel-Hamas truce by two days and there is the likelihood of about 10 more Israeli hostages to be released per day.
As per the initial four-day truce agreement, which will expire today (Tuesday), Israel agreed to halt its military operations in Gaza for four days and emphasized that it would release three Palestinian security prisoners for each of the 50 hostages freed from Gaza, The Times of Israel reported.
Since Friday, over 50 hostages have now been released, whereas, 117 Palestinians have been freed.
US President Joe Biden on Monday welcomed the additional two-day truce between Israel and Hamas after Qatar's successful mediation. Biden issued a statement, welcoming the extended truce, as reported by The Times of Israel.
"I have remained deeply engaged over the last few days to ensure that this deal--brokered and sustained through extensive US mediation and diplomacy--can continue to deliver results," the US President said.
—ANI
