U.S. military fails to reconnect Gaza pier, says mission will end soon
Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a spokesman, said in a statement that U.S. troops tried to reconnect the floating pier to the shoreline Wednesday but were unable to do so because of “technical and weather-related issues.” The pier and its support vessels were taken back to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where they had sheltered amid the latest spell of rough waves, and will remain there until further notice, Ryder said.
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The operation has delivered nearly 20 million pounds of food ashore since it began on May 17. It’s a fraction of what humanitarian groups say is needed as Palestinians trapped by the fighting between Israel and Hamas face starvation and Israeli officials resist U.S. and international demands to let more aid into Gaza via land routes.
Moreover, distribution from the pier has been challenged by aid groups’ fears for their workers’ safety as the war’s staggering number of civilian casualties continues to climb. Until recently, arriving supplies were left to pile up in a staging area along the beach. A U.S. defense official familiar with the issue, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss recent developments, said a significant amount of that aid has been moved to other locations, leaving room for new deliveries if the pier can get up and running again.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, which coordinates with the humanitarian groups working in Gaza, will continue to use all available routes into the territory to get food and medicine to Palestinian civilians in need, an official there said. Those groups have begun using the port at Ashdod, north of Gaza, for additional aid deliveries, the official said.