WASHINGTON: A temporary US aid pier has again been removed from the Gaza coast due to high seas and will be towed to an Israeli port, the Pentagon said on Friday.
It is the third time the pier has been detached from the shore because of weather conditions since its initial installation in mid-May, and the effort is also facing difficulties with distribution of assistance once it reaches Gaza.
“Due to high sea states expected this weekend, Central Command has removed the temporary pier from its anchored position in Gaza and will tow it back to Ashdod, Israel,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists, referring to the military command responsible for the Middle East.
She said she does not have a date for the pier’s reinstallation, and that “the commander will continue to assess the sea states over the weekend.”
The pier was first anchored to the Gaza coast in mid-May, but was damaged by bad weather later in the month and had to be removed for repairs.
It was then reattached on June 7, but was moved to Ashdod on June 14 to protect it from anticipated high seas — a situation that is now being repeated.
When the pier has been operational, it has been used to deliver a large amount of aid to the shore.
“Since May 17, Central Command has assisted in the delivery of more than 8,831 metric tons, or approximately 19.4 million pounds, of humanitarian aid to the shore for onward distribution by humanitarian organizations,” Singh said.
But distribution has been a problem, with the UN World Food Program suspending its deliveries of assistance that arrive via the pier earlier this month to assess the security situation.
The move came after Israel conducted a military operation nearby that freed four hostages, but which Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry said killed more than 270 Palestinians.
As a result, aid is piling up in the marshalling yard where it is delivered onshore.
“There’s still some room there, but it’s, I would say majority is pretty full right now,” Singh said.
Gaza is suffering through a war which broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza although the army says 42 are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,765 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in Gaza.
US aid pier removed from Gaza due to high seas
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US aid pier removed from Gaza due to high seas
- It is the third time the pier has been detached from the shore because of weather conditions since its initial installation in mid-May
- “Central Command has removed the temporary pier from its anchored position in Gaza and will tow it back to Ashdod, Israel,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said
Vessel struck off Oman’s Muscat, UKMTO says
DUBAI: A vessel was struck on Sunday by an unknown projectile 50 nautical miles north of Oman’s capital, Muscat, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said.
The attack resulted in a fire in the vessel’s engine room that has been brought under control, UKMTO added.
It is the second incident the agency reports on Sunday after reporting an incident off Oman’s Kumzar in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state television said Sunday that an oil tanker was sinking after it was struck while attempting to pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The incident took place as Iran exchanged strikes with the United States and Israel, who launched an attack Saturday that killed the Islamic republic’s supreme leader.
“The fate of the offending oil tanker that was struck while attempting to illegally pass through the Strait of Hormuz is that it is now sinking,” state TV reported, without elaborating.
It carried footage showing heavy black smoke emanating from the burning tanker at sea.
The strait carries a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and a fifth of all liquified natural gas.
On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had warned that the vital waterway was unsafe due to US and Israeli attacks and was therefore closed to ships.
