US Asks Australia to Assist With Port Construction for Gaza Aid

Displaced Palestinians collect food donated by a charity in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on March 11, 2024. Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

The United States has requested Australia help the country build a port to facilitate humanitarian aid to Gaza residents.

This comes following the international community’s recent concerns that dwindling supplies would plunge the conflict region into famine.

According to the AAP, the United States has sent a request to its allies, including Australia, asking each country to help with the construction work and provide more humanitarian aid.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his government was working with Israel to establish an aid corridor via sea route that could distribute up to two million daily meals, medicine, water and other supplies.

While the EU and some other countries are supporting the initiative, Mr. Blinken stated that overland routes were still the most feasible option to deliver aid.

“But this will help close the gap,” he told reporters in Washington.

“It’s part of our all-of-the-above strategy to make sure we’re doing everything possible by every means possible to surge support to those who need it by land, by sea, by air.”

Australia Still Pauses Aid to Gaza

The United States’ call comes as Australia continues to freeze its relief funding to Gaza after reports alleged 12 United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) staff were involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The allegation caused multiple countries to pause aid to the humanitarian agency while they waited for more evidence from Israel and the U.N.

While Canada and Sweden have lifted their suspensions, Australia still maintains its stance despite pressure from domestic politicians and humanitarian organisations.

On March 11, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia was working with other countries to rebuild confidence so that funding could be reinstated to UNRWA.

Despite Israel’s call to disband UNRWA due to its alleged involvement with the terrorist group Hamas, Ms. Wong stated that the organisation was the only one capable of providing humanitarian aid, supplies, and support on a large scale in the region.

Save the Children, a global aid and development agency dedicated to helping children, has urged the Australian government to resume funding to the UNRWA, citing the gloomy humanitarian picture of Gaza.

“With more and more children dying in Gaza every day, we simply do not have the luxury of time,” Save the Children CEO Mat Tinkler said.

“The government has consistently expressed concern and alarm over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, and yet its contribution to the humanitarian response has failed to adequately reflect the concern in those statements.”

According to the U.N., 31,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war so far, with 1.7 million people displaced.