A new sea route for Gaza aid is on track, USAID says. Treating starving children is a priority

The United States expects to have on-the-ground arrangements in Gaza ready for humanitarian workers to start delivering food, treatment for starving children and other urgent assistance by early to mid-month when the American military expects to complete a floating pier for the effort, an official with the U.S. Agency for International Development said.

But aid coming through the new U.S.-led maritime route still will serve only a fraction — half a million people — of those who need help in Gaza, the USAID official stressed to The Associated Press. They are some of the agency's first comments on the status of preparations for the Biden administration’s $320 million Gaza pier project, for which USAID is helping coordinate on-the-ground security and distribution.

Meanwhile, at a factory in southern Georgia, USAID Administrator Samantha Power is due later Friday to announce a $200 million investment to ramp up U.S. production of emergency nutritional treatment for starving children under 5, as conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and elsewhere drive up the need.

USAID made the official working on humanitarian operations in Gaza available for an interview ahead of Power’s announcement on the condition the official not be identified, citing security concerns given the person's work in conflicts.

With the Israel-Hamas war stretching close to seven months and Israel restricting humanitarian aid, half of Gaza's 2.3 million people are at imminent risk of famine, international health officials say. Under pressure from the U.S. and others, Israeli officials in recent weeks have begun slowly reopening some border crossings for relief shipments.

Children under 5 are among the first to die when wars, droughts or other disasters curtail