On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” USAID Administrator Amb. Samantha Power argued that Israel hasn’t made enough improvement on helping aid reach Gaza, where she acknowledged “There’s criminality. There are gangs. There are armed elements there.”
Power said, “Well, it is, in some ways, a kind of doom loop, because the paucity of assistance getting in over such a long period of time gave rise to such desperation on the part of families, that, every time a truck shows up or goes through a part of Gaza, there’s a feeling this might be the last truck. And there’s not that regularized flow of assistance that we need in order to give people the confidence that they need that more will continue to flow. So, that’s one aspect. There’s criminality. There are gangs. There are armed elements there. And then, of course, there is IDF-Hamas fighting. There’s just war, which makes it difficult for unarmed humanitarians to move convoys from point A to point B. So, it’s a perfect storm of really difficult circumstances. There are humanitarians, Andrea, operating on the ground, who you have seen working in conflict zones their entire careers. They say they have never worked in a more complex situation or in a more desperate situation.”
Later, she added, “I was a participant in a meeting with the most senior IDF commanders this week, with the leaders of the humanitarian community, to try to expedite procedures. At long last, it’s been eight months, there’s been some improvement, but not nearly enough.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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