The United States has announced another $53 million in humanitarian assistance for Palestinians as the US aid chief pleaded for protection to relief workers in Gaza, AFP reports.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said the aid would go through the World Food Programme and non-governmental groups, as Israel and Western powers criticise the UN refugee agency in besieged Gaza.

Announcing the aid in a video from Jordan, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said the new assistance “has to reach people in need”.

“The aid workers who are on the ground in Gaza are risking their lives to get food to people in desperate, desperate need — those aid workers have to be protected,” she said.

“They have to know they can do their jobs without being shot at and killed,” she said, without naming either Israel or Hamas, which controls Gaza.