The White House on Monday welcomed the arrival of more than 300 trucks of humanitarian aid in Gaza last Sunday (7), but said it is pressuring Israel to increase the quantity to 350 per day, while negotiations continue for a agreement for a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
White House spokesman John Kirby said CIA Director William Burns was in Cairo over the weekend for a serious round of negotiations for the release of hostages held in Gaza by the Palestinian group Hamas.
The United States hopes to forge a deal that would include a roughly six-week ceasefire in Israel's six-month offensive to destroy Hamas in the Palestinian enclave.
Asked if there was reason to be optimistic about a hostage deal, Kirby told reporters: “It should be obvious, just from the amount of diplomacy that we are doing and that our correspondents are doing, that we are taking this very, very seriously. And we really want to reach an agreement on the hostages as quickly as possible.”
Hamas killed 1,200 people in a massacre in southern Israel on October 7, according to Israeli counts. More than 33,000 Palestinians were killed in Israel's response, the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said on Monday. The Israeli Army claims that more than 600 of its soldiers were killed in combat.
Kirby said Washington wants to see a steady pace of 300 to 350 trucks of humanitarian aid entering Gaza every day and better protections for aid workers, after Israeli airstrikes killed six World Central Kitchen employees last week.
“Obviously, we need that number to increase and we need that to be sustained to really address the dire humanitarian situation,” he said.
Source: CNN Brasil
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