America has asked Australia to chip in for more humanitarian aid in the war torn Gaza as Washington moves ahead with plans to bring in relief by sea. 

The United States is setting up a port in Gaza so more humanitarian aid can flow through as the international community raises concerns about dwindling supplies reaching civilians in the besieged strip and starvation.

A request has been made to partner nations, including Australia, for help setting up the port while further aid to flow through would be welcomed, AAP understands.

The US is working with Israel to establish the aid corridor, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. 

The corridor would distribute up to two million meals a day on top of medicine, water and other supplies.

Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada are also supporting this effort.

But overland routes remained the most viable option to deliver aid, Mr Blinken said amid a push to open further aid corridors. 

“But this will help close the gap,” he told reporters in Washington.

“It’s part of our all-of-the-above strategy to make sure we’re doing everything possible by every means possible to surge support to those who need it by land, by sea, by air.”

Save the Children has called on the Australian government to reinstate suspended funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Canada, Sweden and the European Commission have reinstated funding.

It had been more than six weeks since funding was frozen and almost two weeks since the government promised additional urgent support for Gaza, Save the Children CEO Mat Tinkler said.  

“With more and more children dying in Gaza every day, we simply do not have the luxury of time,” he said. 

“The government has consistently expressed concern and alarm over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and yet its contribution to the humanitarian response has failed to adequately reflect the concern in those statements.”

Funding was paused in January alongside partner nations after Israel alleged a number of UNRWA staff members had participated in Hamas’ October 7 attack against it. 

The UN agency fired several employees following the accusations. 

Australia has flagged waiting for the result of investigations into the allegations and called on Israel to assist inquiries by providing the evidence it relied upon so funding can be reinstated as quickly as possible. 

Israel wants the organisation disbanded and replaced, accusing it of being used by Hamas, which Australia designates as a terrorist organisation. 

But the organisation is the only one capable of providing humanitarian aid, supplies and support at the scale needed in Gaza, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said.

More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, retaliated against Hamas in Gaza with a further 1.7 million people displaced, according to the local health ministry and United Nations.

Hamas killed 1200 Israelis and took more than 200 people hostage in an attack on October 7.

This post was originally published on Michael West.