Deliveries of maritime aid to Gaza resumed on Saturday (8), a day after the completion of repairs to a temporary port built by the American military, the US Central Command announced.
Nearly 500 tons of aid had been delivered as of Saturday morning local time, Central Command said in a post on X, the first delivery since the dock was destroyed last month.
The handover took place on the same day that the Israeli military rescued four hostages in an operation that, according to Gaza authorities, killed more than 200 people and injured more than 400.
The US military claims that the port, “including its equipment, personnel and assets”, was not used in the operation.
“The temporary port on the coast of Gaza was created for a single purpose: to help transport additional and urgently needed vital assistance to Gaza,” Central Command said in a separate X post.
And a US official told CNN on Saturday that the dock, called Joint Logistics Over the Shore, was not used in the operation. “It is our understanding that the Israel Defense Forces did not use a vehicle with humanitarian markings, or any humanitarian platform, including port facilities, to conduct hostage rescue operations,” the official said.
The port, used to deliver aid via planes and land transport at border checkpoints, suffered damage and broke down in rough seas late last month. In the less than two weeks that the pier was operational, it helped deliver around 1,000 tons of aid to Gaza.
The US faced a number of challenges with the pier, including planning Israel’s operations in Rafah, establishing who would transport aid from the pier to Gaza, and logistical issues such as maritime and weather conditions.
Eight months after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, human rights groups described “indescribable” living conditions in Gaza. The United Nations food agency warned in May that Palestinians in the north are under a “total famine” that is spreading south, and that more than 1 million people, half the population of Gaza, “must face death and famine” in mid-June, a UN report warned this week.
Although Israeli authorities have insisted there is no limit to the amount of aid that can enter Gaza, the UN has accused authorities of imposing “unlawful restrictions” on humanitarian aid operations, including blocking land routes, cutting communications and airstrikes.
The US has carried out a series of humanitarian aid airdrops into Gaza in partnership with the Royal Jordanian Air Force, although they have been suspended in recent weeks due to military operations in northern Gaza, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper said on Friday . Airdrops are expected to resume “in the coming days,” he said.
Source: CNN Brasil
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