The US military is preparing to temporarily remove the recently constructed makeshift port off the coast of the Gaza Strip because of expected sea conditions. The dock is likely to be moved to the Israeli port of Ashdod until sea conditions improve, said a US official who did not want to be named.
The pier, built by the USA, was put into operation in mid-May, but shortly afterwards part of the structure collapsed. The temporary port is used to supply the people in the Gaza Strip with food by sea.
This is the second time the US has removed the pier. The military was scheduled to dismantle it on Friday and Saturday to prevent further storm-related damage, as occurred to the structure in May. The pier was expected to be operational again next week.
As a result of the war, hunger is widespread in the Gaza Strip. The population is largely cut off from supplies of food, medicine and other goods. The United Nations has warned of a life-threatening famine in the Gaza Strip.
Most recently, supplies from Cyprus were able to reach the Gaza Strip via the pier for several days. However, aid organizations have put the distribution of the goods on hold for the time being while a security check is underway.
The United Nations, the actor with the greatest reach in distributing aid supplies in the coastal area, has paused its work at the pier after an operation by the Israeli military to free four Israeli hostages. According to the radical Islamic terrorist organization Hamas, more than 270 Palestinians were killed.
Meanwhile, the US has imposed sanctions on an extremist Israeli group for blocking aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip. Members of the Tsav 9 group have repeatedly tried to obstruct deliveries, sometimes by using violent road barriers, the US State Department said on Friday. “They have also damaged trucks and dumped life-saving humanitarian aid on the road,” it said.
According to the ministry, the group looted two trucks carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip in the West Bank on May 13 and set the vehicles on fire.
The provision of aid supplies is crucial to preventing famine in the Gaza Strip, the ministry said. “We will not tolerate acts of sabotage and violence against this important humanitarian aid.”
Tsav 9 is a right-wing activist group that wants to prevent any aid to the Gaza Strip as long as Israeli hostages are held by the radical Islamic Hamas in the Palestinian territory.
