Necessary aid has been sent to Gaza from the newly repaired A dock built in AmericaThe US Central Command made the announcement on Saturday, after problems hampered efforts to bring supplies to Palestine by sea.
The pier built by the American military was only operational for about a week before it was blown away by high winds and rough seas on May 25. The damaged section was reattached to the beach in Gaza on Friday after being repaired at an Israeli port.
About 1.1. million pounds of aid sent there through the pier, CENTCOM said in a statement. According to the agency, a total of 3.5 million pounds of aid has been sent since the docks opened in mid-May.
Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images
Delivery arrived the same day Israel carried out heavy air and ground attacks in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza who rescued four hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attack that started the war in Gaza. The Hamas government’s media office in Gaza said at least 210 Palestinians were killed in the attack, and more than 400 wounded.
A video circulating online Saturday showed an Israel Defense Forces helicopter flying off the beach with a US dock in the background. Two US officials told CBS News that the US pier not used in IDF operations. US officials explained that the helicopter landed on the south side of the facility on the beach but not in the dock area.
“The dock facility was not used in the operation to rescue the hostages today in Gaza. The area south of the facility was used to safely return the hostages to Israel,” the US official said. “Any claim to the contrary is false. The temporary dock on the coast of Gaza was put in place for one purpose, to help get other urgently needed lifesaving aid to Gaza.”
In a statement on Saturday, the US Central Command stated that “dock facilities, including equipment, personnel, and assets were not used in the operation to rescue the hostages today in Gaza.”
Repair back online one way to get much needed food and other emergencies for Palestinians trapped in the Israeli-Hamas war for eight months. Israel’s restrictions on land crossings, and fighting, have limited the flow of food and other vital supplies to the region.
The destruction of the pier is the latest setback for the project and the ongoing struggle to get food to hungry Palestinians. Three US service members were wounded, one critically, and four boats were beached by rough seas.
Initial efforts to get aid from the docks to the Gaza Strip were disrupted as crowds stormed a convoy of trucks used by aid agencies to transport food, stripping the cargo of many before it could reach a UN warehouse. Officials responded by changing travel routes, and aid began to reach those in need.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, told reporters on Friday that lessons learned from the early weeks of the operation made him confident that more aid could be sent now.
He said the goal is to get 1 million kilograms of food and other supplies passing through the docks to Gaza every two days. Before the causeway broke in the storm, more than 2.4 million pounds of aid was sent, Pentagon officials said.
The US Agency for International Development is working with the UN World Food Program and its humanitarian partners working in Gaza to distribute food, high-nutrition emergency care to starving children, and other aid via sea routes.
Aid agencies have pressed Israel to reopen land routes that can bring all the aid it needs. Israel said it had allowed hundreds of trucks to enter southern checkpoints and pointed the finger at the UN for not distributing aid. The UN says it is often unable to receive aid because of the security situation.
A UN agency has warned that more than one million Palestinians in Gaza could face the highest levels of starvation by the middle of next month if hostilities continue.
President Biden’s administration has said from the beginning that the docks are not a total solution and that help is available.
Biden announced the U.S. military’s plan to build the dock during his State of the Union address in early March, and the military said it would take about 60 days to get it installed and operational. It took longer than planned, with the first trucks carrying aid for the Gaza Strip disembarking on May 17.
The initial cost was estimated at $320 million, but the Pentagon said last week that the cost had dropped to $230 million, due to contributions from Britain and because the cost of the contract for trucks and other equipment was less than expected.
