WASHINGTON (AP) — A jetty built by the U.S. to deliver food to the Gaza Strip is facing one of its most serious challenges yet. Determine whether supplies can continue to be provided safely and ethically It travels via U.S. sea routes and reaches starving Palestinians.
The United Nations, which delivers aid most extensively in the Gaza Strip, suspended operations at the dock after Israeli security forces rescued four hostages there on June 8. Killed over 270 PalestiniansAdding to the problem, two U.S. officials said Friday that the pier will be detached again due to the storm to prevent it from collapsing as happened during severe weather last month.
After the attack, they rush to the rescue of a fatally wounded Israeli special forces officer. Israeli rescue team Israeli military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari told reporters that Israeli forces decided not to return the way they came across the land border. Instead, they raced toward the coast and the compound of a U.S. aid post on the Gaza coast, he said. Israeli helicopters landed near a U.S.-built pier to help rescue the hostages and special forces personnel, the U.S. and Israeli militaries said.
FILE – A U.S. military landing craft washes up in Ashdod after being swept away by wind and current from a temporary humanitarian pier in the Gaza Strip, May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsakhrir Abayov, File)
For the United Nations and independent humanitarian organizations, the incident US Sea RoutesWhether aid workers can cooperate with projects supported by U.S. forces and secured by Israeli forces without violating humanitarian principles of neutrality and independence and without risking being seen as allies of the U.S. and Israel and thus being targeted themselves.
Israel and the United States The US pier opened a month ago It was used in Israeli raids, and nearby areas are said to have been used to force the hostages home.
The United Nations World Food Programme, which works with the US to transport and distribute $230 million in aid to warehouses and aid teams on the ground in the Gaza Strip, has suspended the collaboration to conduct a security review. Aid is piling up At the beach ever since.
“You can be sure that we will be very careful in our assessments and in the conclusions we draw,” said Martin Griffiths, the U.N. secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.
FILE – This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), U.S. Navy sailors assigned to the 1st Amphibious Construction Battalion, and the Israel Defense Forces installing a Trident pier on the coast of the Gaza Strip, May 16, 2024. (U.S. Central Command via The Associated Press)
Griffiths told reporters: Jordan Aid Conference It warned this week that if it determined Israeli raiders had improperly used the beach and roads around the pier, it would “endanger future humanitarian engagement in that operation.”
U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York that the U.N. needed to consider not only the facts but also what the Palestinian people and militants think about whether the attack involved U.S., dock or aid workers.
“Humanitarian aid should not be used or seen as taking sides in conflicts,” Haq said. “The safety of humanitarian workers depends on all sides and local communities trusting their impartiality.”
Humanitarian groups say rumours are spreading on social media, increasing the danger to aid workers.
“Whether or not they have seen the pier used for military purposes is largely irrelevant, because the people of Gaza, civilians and armed groups, perceive humanitarian aid as being used by the parties to the conflict,” said Suze van Megen, head of operations in Gaza for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Oxfam International and other aid groups said they were waiting for a response from the U.S. government, which is responsible for the agreement with the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies. How the jetty and aid delivery works.
Oxfam vice president Scott Paul said questions included whether Israeli helicopters and security forces had used areas around the pier that the United States had promised aid groups were off-limits to Israeli troops.
The suspension of deliveries is just one of the issues impeding construction of the dock, which President Joe Biden announced in March as an additional way to deliver aid to the Palestinians. The United States has said the project is never a solution and has urged Israel to lift restrictions on sending aid by land as famine looms.
The first aid by sea arrived on land on May 17 and work has been erratic since then.
May 18: Crowds overpowered rescue trucks coming from the pier, stealing some of the trucks’ cargo. WFP has halted deliveries from the pier They are expected to wait at least two days while they discuss alternative routes with the United States and Israel.
May 24: Just over 1,000 tons of aid is delivered to Gaza from the jetty, and the US Agency for International Development later announces that all of it has been distributed within Gaza.
— May 25: Strong winds and rough seas Damaged the pier Four U.S. ships ran aground, three service members were injured, one seriously, and crews towed away part of a floating dock and suspended operations for two weeks.
— June 8: The U.S. military Delivery resumed Israeli operations were launched from the repaired and reinstalled dock the same day.
— Sunday: World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain announced a “pause” in cooperation with the US Wharf, citing “incidents” the previous day and rocket attacks on two WFP warehouses that injured one staff member.
Friday: The pier will be detached later that day or Saturday to prevent damage from rough seas and to allow the military to quickly reconnect it later, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the military’s plans. The structure is expected to be returned to its original position by next week, they said.
Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the dock has delivered more than 2,500 tons, or about 5.6 million pounds, of aid to the Gaza Strip, about 1,000 tons of which were delivered by ship on Tuesday and Wednesday after WFP’s pause and are stored on shore awaiting distribution.
“Of course, WFP is taking necessary security measures and reviews to ensure its safety and security and to carry out its operations inside the Gaza Strip,” Singh said.
The question now is whether the UN will rejoin the effort.
For aid workers, who typically operate without weapons or armed guards, and the people they help, “the best way to guarantee our safety is for communities to accept that aid workers are neutral,” said Paul, the Oxfam official.
Yousef Munayyer, a senior fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, an independent organization that studies Israeli-Arab issues, said Palestinians are already deeply suspicious of the pier given the leading role of the United States in sending arms and other aid to its ally Israel.
Distrustful Palestinians, suffering in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas, are being asked to take the U.S. at its word, but that’s difficult to do, said Munayyer, who is Palestinian-American.
“So perception is very important,” he said, “and perception is dangerous for people who are literally putting their lives on the line to deliver humanitarian aid around the battlefield.”
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Lederer reported from the United Nations. Associated Press writer Lolita C. Balder contributed from Washington.
