Today: 30 May 2025
26 May 2024
3 mins read

Heavy seas batter US Gaza maritime aid mission

Four vessels serving a floating aid delivery pier broke free from their moorings.

Heavy seas battered the US maritime humanitarian mission to Gaza on Saturday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said, with four vessels serving a floating aid delivery pier breaking free from their moorings.

No injuries were reported and the aid pier remains fully functional, CENTCOM said in a statement, adding that no US personnel would enter Gaza.

Two of the affected vessels were now anchored on the beach near the pier and the other two were beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon, CENTCOM said, adding that efforts to recover the vessels were under way with assistance from the Israeli Navy.

A six-day-old US pier project in Gaza is starting to get more aid to Palestinians in need but conditions are challenging, US officials said Thursday. That reflects the larger problems bringing food and other supplies to starving people in the besieged territory.

The floating pier had a troubled launch, with crowds overrunning some of the first trucks coming from the new US-led sea route and taking its contents over the weekend. One man in the crowd was shot dead in still-unexplained circumstances. It led to a two-day suspension of aid distribution.

The US military worked with the UN and Israeli officials to select safer alternate routes for trucks coming from the pier, US Vice Admiral Brad Cooper told reporters Thursday.

As a result, the US pier on Wednesday accounted for 27 of the 70 total trucks of aid that the UN was able to round up from all land and sea crossings into Gaza for distribution to civilians, the United States said.

That’s a fraction of the 150 truckloads of food, emergency nutrition treatment and other supplies that US officials aim to bring in when the sea route is working at maximum capacity.

(Photo: US Central Command)

Plus, Gaza needs 600 trucks entering each day, according to the US Agency for International Development, to curb a famine that the heads of USAID and the UN World Food Program have said has begun in the north and to keep it from spreading south.

Only one of the 54 trucks that came from the pier Tuesday and Wednesday encountered any security issues on their way to aid warehouses and distribution points, US officials said. They called the issues “minor” but gave no details.

A deepening Israeli offensive in the southern city of Rafah has made it impossible for aid shipments to get through the crossing there, which is a key source for fuel and food coming into Gaza. Israel says it is bringing aid in through another border crossing, Kerem Shalom, but humanitarian organizations say Israeli military operations make it difficult for them to retrieve the aid there for distribution.

The Biden administration last week launched the $320 million floating pier for a new maritime aid route into Gaza as the seven-month-old Israel-Hamas war and Israeli restrictions on land crossings have severely limited food deliveries to 2.3 million Palestinians.

For all humanitarian efforts, “the risks are manifold,” Daniel Dieckhaus, USAID’s response director for Gaza, said at a briefing with Cooper. “This is an active conflict with deteriorating conditions.”

Dieckhaus rejected charges from some aid groups that the pier is diverting attention from what the US, UN and relief workers say is the essential need for Israel to allow full access to land crossings for humanitarian shipments.

For instance, Jeremy Konyndyk, a former USAID official now leading Refugees International, tweeted that “the pier is humanitarian theater.”

“I would not call, within a couple of days, getting enough food and other supplies for tens of thousands of people for a month theater,” Dieckhaus said Thursday when asked about the criticism.

At maximum capacity, the pier would bring in enough food for 500,000 of Gaza’s people. US officials stressed the need for flow through open land crossings for the remaining 1.8 million.

ALSO READ: Gaza war is ‘real genocide,’ Spanish defence minister says

Previous Story

Gaza war is ‘real genocide,’ Spanish defence minister says

Next Story

Israel strikes Rafah despite ICJ orders  

Latest from -Top News

White House: Israel OKs Gaza Truce

Hamas said Thursday that its leadership had received a new Gaza ceasefire proposal from Witkoff through the mediators and was studying it…reports Asian Lite News The White House said that Israel has

Saudi backs India’s strategic outreach

In a series of engagements, the Indian delegation met Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State Adel Al-Jubeir and other senior officials. A high-profile Indian all-party parliamentary delegation, led by BJP MP Baijayant Jay

Iran pressed over 3 missing Indians

The embassy stated that it is maintaining close contact with the families and keeping them regularly updated about the steps being taken….reports Asian Lite News The Indian government has urged Iranian authorities

EU-UAE FTA talks amid US tariff pressure

Talks will also explore ways to boost trade in strategic sectors, such as renewable energy, green hydrogen and critical raw materials….reports Asian Lite News The European Union (EU) and the United Arab
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Rocket fired from Gaza at southern Israel: Israeli army

One rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli

Israel wants UNRWA dismantlement to allow Gaza aid

UNRWA, the main humanitarian organization operating in the Palestinian territories