UN food agency pauses its aid work at US pier in Gaza over security concerns, in latest setback

WASHINGTON (AP) — The director of the U.N. World Food Program said Sunday the program has “paused” its distribution of humanitarian aid from an American-built pier off Gaza, saying she was “concerned about the safety of our people” after what had been one of the deadliest days of the war there.

Saturday saw both an Israeli military assault that freed four hostages but left 274 Palestinians and one Israeli commando dead, and, Cindy McCain said, two of WFP’s warehouses in Gaza had been “rocketed” and a staffer injured.

Sunday’s U.N. announcement of the pause appears the latest setback for the U.S. sea route, set up to try to bring more aid to Gaza’s starving people.

filister,

The same pier which is a covert US military base where 1000 marines deployed? I am not sure that this pier was ever meant to be a humanitarian hub.

If the US was so worried about the Palestinian well-being they could have simply stopped military shipments until Israel opened their land border and provided an adequate humanitarian relief to the population living in Gaza.

tal, (edited )
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

two of WFP’s warehouses in Gaza had been “rocketed” and a staffer injured.

The bottleneck is getting supplies from water to the beach. Why do they even need to be going to warehouses in the first place, much less ones where fighting is happening? Can’t they just drive the stuff down the shore to the south, and dump them off there?

I mean, maybe you get people appropriating them and selling them or using them for power games within the aid-needing place – that’s happened before with aid, opening of Black Hawk Down shows exactly that taking place – but end of the day, it’s probably still going to someone in Gaza, yes?

It seems pretty safe to say that any distribution of aid is preferable to no distribution.

Linkerbaan,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

I’d presume the aid comes off the pier on vehicles that are not meant for the distribution.

But cutting the distribution center would likely still not resolve the issue. Israel would just bomb the aid distribution vehicles directly as they have done in the past.

Wahots,
@Wahots@pawb.social avatar

You gotta have a distribution network the same way the heart needs arteries, veins, and capillaries. Without a delivery network, that aid won’t go more than the distance some people can walk. The elderly and children would never get it. Those in other cities might not get it. Not to mention how heavy water is. Most can’t carry enough for a family of five each day, in a different city.

The warehouses allow them to coordinate food/water/first aid/etc and send it on trucks to distribution centers where it can be distributed equally without stampedes, or the healthiest/most well armed simply taking everything.

givesomefucks,

Completed in mid-May, the U.S. pier was operational for only about a week before being knocked offline by storm damage for two weeks. After repairs, it returned to operation again Saturday, bringing in 1.1 million pounds (492 metric tons) of food and other aid, before McCain said her agency was pausing its humanitarian work there.

Israel also blew up two nearby warehouses were food was kept.

And used this area as a landing zone…

cbsnews.com/…/us-support-israeli-forces-rescue-ho…

dariusj18,

That article says that the US claims the peir area was not used as a landing zone.

givesomefucks,

No, it says the pier wasn’t used just right next to it…

Video circulating online Saturday shows an IDF 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. It is offshore to assist delivery of humanitarian aid. 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.

Which is why I said “this area” and not “the pier”

But honestly, it should be pretty clear what I’m talking about about. The article is about the warehouses next to the pier, they’re also not actually on the pier. So I don’t know how anyone would think “this area” means literally and only on this tiny tiny pier that’s been used for civilian aid for like what? 2 weeks total?

It might have been longer but Israel pulled this shit almost as soon as it opened, and I’m sure you’re about to tell us how that’s a total coincidence…

dariusj18,

I feel the ambiguity leans towards being misunderstood, so I think it best to clarify.

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