Current:Home > Contact-usU.S. resumes delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza via repaired pier-InfoLens
U.S. resumes delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza via repaired pier
View Date:2024-12-23 14:36:02
Badly needed aid has been delivered into Gaza from a newly repaired American-built pier, U.S. Central Command announced Saturday, following problems that had plagued the effort to bring supplies to Palestinians by sea.
The pier constructed by the American military was only operational for about a week before it was blown apart in high winds and heavy seas on May 25. The damaged section was reconnected to the beach in Gaza on Friday after undergoing repairs at an Israeli port.
About 1.1. million pounds of aid were delivered Saturday via the pier, CENTCOM said in a statement. According to the agency, a total of 3.5 million pounds of aid have been delivered since the pier had previously opened in mid-May.
The delivery came the same day that Israel mounted a heavy air and ground assault on the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza that rescued four hostages who had been taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 assault that launched the war in Gaza. The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza said at least 210 Palestinians were killed during the raid, and more than 400 injured.
Video circulating online Saturday shows an Israel Defense Forces helicopter taking off from the beach with the U.S. pier in the backdrop. Two U.S. officials told CBS News that the U.S. pier was not used in the IDF operation. A U.S. official explained that the helicopter landed south of the facility on a beach but not within the cordoned area of the pier.
"The pier facility was not used in the operation to rescue hostages today in Gaza. An area south of the facility was used to safely return the hostages to Israel," a U.S. official said. "Any such claim to the contrary is false. The temporary pier on the coast of Gaza was put in place for one purpose only, to help get more urgently needed lifesaving assistance into Gaza."
In a statement later Saturday, U.S. Central Command reiterated that "pier facility, including its equipment, personnel, and assets were not used in the operation to rescue hostages today in Gaza."
The repair brings back online one way to get desperately needed food and other emergency supplies to Palestinians trapped by the eight-month-old Israel-Hamas war. Israeli restrictions on land crossings, and fighting, have greatly limited the flow of food and other vital supplies into the territory.
The damage to the pier was the latest stumbling block for the project and the persistent struggle to get food to starving Palestinians. Three U.S. service members were injured, one critically, and four vessels were beached due to heavy seas.
Early efforts to get aid from the pier into the Gaza Strip were disrupted as crowds overran a convoy of trucks that aid agencies were using to transport the food, stripping the cargo from many of them before they could reach a U.N. warehouse. Officials responded by altering the travel routes, and aid began reaching those in need.
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, told reporters on Friday that the lessons learned from that initial week of operations made him confident greater amounts of aid could be delivered now.
He said the goal was to get to 1 million pounds of food and other supplies moving through the pier into Gaza every two days. Before the causeway broke apart in the storm, more than 2.4 million pounds of aid were delivered, Pentagon officials said.
The U.S. Agency for International Development is working with the U.N. World Food Program and their humanitarian partners working in Gaza to distribute food, high-nutrition emergency treatment for starving children, and other aid via the sea route.
Relief agencies have pressed Israel to reopen land routes that could bring in all the needed aid. Israel says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter through a southern checkpoint and pointed the finger at the U.N. for not distributing aid. The U.N. says it is often unable to retrieve the aid because of the security situation.
U.N. agencies have warned that over one million Palestinians in Gaza could experience the highest level of starvation by the middle of next month if hostilities continue.
President Biden's administration has said from the start that the pier wasn't meant to be a total solution and that any amount of aid helps.
Biden announced his plan for the U.S. military to build a pier 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 a bit longer than planned, with the first trucks carrying aid for the Gaza Strip rolling down the pier on May 17.
The initial cost was estimated at $320 million, but the Pentagon said this past week that the price had dropped to $230 million, due to contributions from Britain and because the cost of contracting trucks and other equipment was less than expected.
- In:
- Hamas
- Israel
- Gaza Strip
veryGood! (47)
Related
- The Masked Singer's Ice King Might Be a Jonas Brother
- People are asking to be doxxed online – and the videos are going viral.
- These Sweet Photos of Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny's Romance Will Have You Saying I Like It
- Company bosses and workers grapple with the fallout of speaking up about the Israel-Hamas war
- South Carolina to take a break from executions for the holidays
- Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong reveals 2024 tour with the Smashing Pumpkins: Reports
- Woman returns from vacation, finds Atlanta home demolished
- Biden is dangling border security money to try to get billions more for Israel and Ukraine
- Taylor Swift gifts 7-year-old '22' hat after promising to meet her when she was a baby
- Egypt-Gaza border crossing opens, letting desperately needed aid flow to Palestinians
Ranking
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom will spend part of week in DC as he tries to Trump-proof state policies
- Kourtney Kardashian’s Husband Travis Barker Shares His Sex Tip
- ‘Oppenheimer’ fanfare likely to fuel record attendance at New Mexico’s Trinity atomic bomb test site
- Shooter gets 23 years to life for ambushing New York City police twice in 12 hours, wounding 2
- Certifying this year’s presidential results begins quietly, in contrast to the 2020 election
- Scholastic criticized for optional diverse book section
- Sevilla expels fan from stadium for racist behavior during game against Real Madrid
- Coyotes' Travis Dermott defies NHL ban on Pride Tape; league to review 'in due course'
Recommendation
-
Roster limits in college small sports put athletes on chopping block while coaches look for answers
-
Inside the Wild Search for Corrections Officer Vicky White After She Ended Up on the Run With an Inmate
-
Dolly Parton's first-ever rock 'n' roll album addresses global issues: I didn't think of that as political
-
Philippines says its coast guard ship and supply boat are hit by Chinese vessels near disputed shoal
-
Why Officials Believe a Missing Kayaker Faked His Own Death and Ran Off to Europe
-
Q&A: The Pope’s New Document on Climate Change Is a ‘Throwdown’ Call for Action
-
Upgrade Your Home With Early Way Day Deals: Get a $720 Rug for $112, $733 Bed Frame for $220 & More
-
Bryce Harper, Zack Wheeler power Phillies to the brink of World Series with NLCS Game 5 win