White House acknowledges gravity of Gaza's 'humanitarian crisis'

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The White House acknowledged Wednesday the extent of the "humanitarian crisis" in the besieged Gaza Strip amid civilian deaths and acute shortages of daily necessities.

Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said the lack of necessities for the civilian population is the impetus for the commencement of US airdrops of humanitarian assistance, as well as a nascent plan to build a temporary pier to facilitate aid deliveries by sea.

"We've seen innocent Palestinian civilians needing important essentials: food, water and medical assistance. And that is something that we want to make sure that we can get as much assistance in because there is a humanitarian crisis, period, happening in Gaza," she told reporters aboard Air Force One.

"The president has said that Israel needs to do more," she added.

Asked why President Joe Biden has so far refused to condition US military assistance on Israel allowing more aid into the besieged enclave, Jean-Pierre pointed to ongoing efforts to broker a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages in Hamas captivity.

"It is important that we get this hostage deal so that again, it would be accompanied by a temporary cease-fire, right. We have talked about this for six weeks so that we can get that in humanitarian aid so that we can make sure that we get those hostages home," she said.

"The president is focused on this. We believe by getting that done -- the hope is to get to a longer, more permanent cease-fire," she added.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas in which 1,163 people were killed.

More than 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 73,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.