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Military Times
US humanitarian pier reanchored to the coast of Gaza
By Cristina Stassis,
2024-06-20
Editor’s note: This story was updated June 20 at 2:50 p.m. E.T. to include updates from The Associated Press about aid delivery resuming from the pier.
On Thursday, the pier was once again unloading aid, according to a U.S. defense official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
The WFP is responsible for distributing the humanitarian support but paused its deliveries June 9 due to concerns over worker safety. A day before, Executive Director Cindy McCain said , two warehouses had been hit by rockets, leaving one worker injured.
In the meantime, the crates moving from the pier into Gaza are only filling the nearby storage sites.
Following its completion in mid-May, the pier has been a debacle for the U.S. military. It was damaged by stormy weather little over a week later, leaving it out of commission until June 8. U.S. Central Command announced it would detach the pier last week, expecting rough seas that might again cause damage.
Since its installation, the pier has only been operational for about 10 days and delivered 3,500 metric tons of aid for further transport the aid into Gaza, according to Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh. The Pentagon insists that the pier is a “temporary measure” and that a sufficient amount of aid can only come through land routes into Gaza.
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a briefing that he doesn’t have a date on when the pier will cease operations.
Aside from weather conditions, another concern is when the WFP will resume their distribution.
The same day WFP warehouses were rocketed, an Israeli-held raid rescued four hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is run by the terrorist group Hamas. The Israeli rescue unit used an area near the pier during its operation, leading WFP to conduct a security review on whether they can safely continue operations.
McCain said in a CBS “Face the Nation” interview that she is unsure how the warehouses got rocketed since they are “deconflicted” from the Israeli military.
In a briefing with reporters last week, Ryder affirmed multiple times that the Israeli Defense Forces used no part of the pier or humanitarian staging ground to launch its hostage-rescue operation.
Reporting by The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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