State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce hits back at UN and NGO criticism of the new US-backed Gaza aid effort, calling it “the height of hypocrisy.”
The United States fired back on Tuesday at the United Nations and non-governmental groups who criticized the new US-backed effort to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza that does not reach the hands of Hamas.
“It is unfortunate, because the issue here is giving aid to Gaza, and then suddenly it moves into complaints about style or the nature of who’s doing it,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
She described the criticism as “the height of hypocrisy.”
“The real story here is that aid, and food, is moving into Gaza at a massive scale,” stated Bruce, adding, “When you’re looking at 8,000 food boxes, was this going to be like going to the mall or through a drive-through? No, it wasn’t. This is a complicated environment, and the story is the fact that it’s working.”
Her comments came as Gazans began receiving humanitarian aid from four distribution centers operated by international aid organizations and secured by an American civilian security company in the Gaza Strip.
The new American-backed initiative, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, announced on Monday the opening of its initial distribution hubs in the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations announced it would refuse to participate in the operation, citing fundamental concerns regarding impartiality, neutrality, and independence.
