Watan-Senator Chris Coons has emphasized that the US administration should begin airlifting aid to Gaza if Israel does not open more land routes.

This comes at a time when the occupation, which controls access to Gaza, imposes arbitrary and contradictory standards on aid efforts worth billions of dollars.

The Democratic senator from Delaware made these remarks in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, commenting on the deaths of dozens of aid recipients in Gaza.

Coons stated, “This is another tragic story from Gaza, a cautionary tale, a reminder that as humanitarian conditions worsen, those on the brink of famine will attack trucks attempting to deliver humanitarian aid. This is a disaster.”

Coons pointed out that “the United States should start delivering humanitarian aid directly to Gaza through airlift or maritime transport if we cannot convince our close ally, Israel, to open more access routes.”

The senator was asked about his opinion on some of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate and very active members trying to impose specific conditions on future US military aid to Israel, especially in light of today’s incident, the massacre at Duwwar al-Nablusi.

In response, the senator said, “If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proceeds with a wide-scale ground assault on Rafah without making significant changes in how civilians are treated, how civilians are protected, and how humanitarian aid is delivered, then I would support this move.”

He added, “If they proceed with a large-scale ground campaign on Rafah without taking into account their commitment under international law to protect civilians and facilitate aid distribution, then yes.”

The Nablusi Square massacre

Israel’s tightening grip on aid became clearer recently when the occupation opened fire on a gathering of desperate Palestinians around food aid trucks in western Gaza City.

Eyewitnesses told CNN that this sparked panic, with some people being shot while trucks attempted to flee.

At least 112 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more injured, according to health officials. The Israeli army claimed to have fired warning shots to disperse a crowd of people after seeing individuals being run over.

A White House statement on Thursday’s phone call between US President Joe Biden and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said the two leaders agreed that the horrific event underscores “the urgent need to end negotiations as soon as possible and expand the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

US Senator Chris Murphy said the situation is “the result of the complete collapse of the social system in Gaza, which is spiraling out of control without a massive influx of humanitarian aid and a cessation of fighting.”

Aid queues in Rafah

For several months, queues of trucks heading to the sector lined the highway leading from the Egyptian city of El-Arish, a major logistics center for aid, to the Rafah crossing with Gaza.

One humanitarian worker at the Egyptian-Gazan Rafah crossing said, “As war rages in Gaza, we’re fighting a different war here.” It’s a war to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

One source overseeing donations from four different relief organizations at one crossing point told CNN, “It’s perfectly engineered chaos.”

The source added that over 15,000 tons of relief supplies are awaiting Israel’s approval to enter Gaza. More than half of it consists of food items.