The Latest | US-built pier in Gaza unloads aid again after weather setback, official says
The U.S.-built pier in Gaza was unloading humanitarian aid again Thursday after being removed for a second time last week because of rough seas, the U.S. military said. The floating pier was anchored back on Gaza’s shoreline Wednesday after facing a number of setbacks.
Aid groups have sharply criticized the plan to bring aid by sea into Gaza, saying it’s a distraction to take pressure off Israel to open more land border crossings that are far more productive. Palestinians face widespread hunger as the war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and basic goods to Gaza, which is now totally dependent on aid.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The United Nations has suspended cooperation with the pier project since June 9, a day after the Israeli military used the area around the pier in a hostage rescue that killed more than 270 Palestinians. The U.S. and Israeli militaries say no part of the pier was used in the raid.
Meanwhile, Israel’s pledge to guard a new aid route into southern Gaza has fallen flat, as the U.N. and international aid organizations say a breakdown in law and order has made that route unusable. The situation has largely paralyzed aid distribution to southern and central Gaza — particularly since the Rafah crossing with Egypt was closed by Israel’s invasion of the city early last month.
Israel’s war against Hamas, now in its ninth month, faces growing international criticism over the U.S.-backed campaign of systematic destruction in Gaza, at a huge cost in civilian lives.
Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 37,100 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
Israel launched the war after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.
Currently:
— The fate of the latest cease-fire proposal hinges on Netanyahu and Hamas’ leader in Gaza.
— Israel’s pledge to guard an aid route into Gaza falls flat as lawlessness blocks distribution.
— A rare public rift appears between Israel’s political and military leadership over how the war in Gaza is being conducted.
— The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group warns archenemy Israel against wider war.
— Hundreds died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia amid intense heat, officials say.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s the latest:
Israel’s pledge to guard an aid route into Gaza falls flat as lawlessness blocks distribution
JERUSALEM — A breakdown in law and order n southern Gaza has made a new route to deliver aid unusable, according to the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations, just days after Israel declared the safe corridor.
With thousands of truckloads of aid piled up, groups of armed men are regularly blocking convoys, holding drivers at gunpoint and rifling through their cargo, according to a U.N. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media on the issue.
The lawlessness is a major obstacle to aid distribution for southern and central Gaza. In those areas, an estimated 1.3 million Palestinians displaced from Rafah — more than half of Gaza’s entire population — are now sheltering in tent camps and cramped apartments without adequate food, water, or medical supplies.
The post The Latest | US-built pier in Gaza unloads aid again after weather setback, official says appeared first on The Muslim News.