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Biden administration to expand humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians

USAID administrator Samantha Power went to Egypt to help speed up the distribution of food, water and medicine.

Rafah border crossing trucks
Trucks with humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza arrive via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Nov. 2, 2023. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90.

Aboard Air Force One during a flight to Boston on Tuesday, U.S. deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton described how the federal government had organized a second flight to get assistance to Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip who have been displaced by war.

On its way, she said, are “36,000 pounds of food assistance and medical supplies,” airlifted by the U.S. Department of Defense at USAID’s request.

Dalton said the items arrived in Egypt for ground transport into Gaza, where they would be distributed by U.N. agencies.

USAID administrator Samantha Power has also arrived in Egypt to assist in working to “accelerate the pace of vitally needed assistance into Gaza,” Dalton said.

So far, aid to Gaza has included mobilizing more than $100 million in humanitarian assistance and 90,000-plus pounds of food and supplies.

Dalton said that the administration “will continue to work to sustain and expand the international humanitarian response and keep rallying the international community to do the same.”

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