From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
2 weeks since new framework okayed for sending flour to Gaza, US shipment still stalled — official
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
A large US shipment of flour for Gaza remains stalled, nearly two weeks since Israel agreed to a new framework for its delivery and 46 days since it was first announced by the White House, a US official tells The Times of Israel.
The official does not elaborate on what is causing the continued delay but says the the flour capable of feeding 1.5 million Gazans for five months should be delivered in the coming days.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller references the flour shipment when asked at a press briefing about Israeli ministers blocking aid from reaching Gaza.
“You have seen ministers in the Israeli Government block the release of flour from the port at Ashdod; you have seen ministers of the Israeli Government supporting protests that blocked aid from going in to Kerem Shalom,” he says, referring to far-right cabinet members Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir respectively. “All of those things are obstacles coming from ministers inside the Israeli Government that we have called out, that we have said are unacceptable, and that we have said should end.”
On February 22, a US official told The Times of Israel that the new arrangement Israel has agreed to will allow for the flour shipment to move forward after Smotrich blocked its transfer for over a month.
The flour would be ferried into Gaza by the World Food Program rather than the UNRWA relief agency for Palestinian refugees, the official said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu privately informed the Biden administration that Israel approved the shipment in early January. The White House announced the development on January 19.
The shipment arrived at the port in Ashdod, but Smotrich blocked its transfer to UNRWA, which came under fire last month over allegations that 12 of its staffers participated in the October 7 terror onslaught.
The delay has angered the Biden administration, which has repeatedly noted in recent weeks that Israel is violating the commitments it made to the president.
