US removes Gaza aid pier again due to weather and may not reinstall it

The pier built by the U.S. military to bring aid to Gaza has been removed due to weather to protect it, and the U.S. is considering not reinstalling it unless the aid begins flowing out into the population again, U.S. officials said Friday.

While the military has helped deliver desperately needed food through the pier, the vast majority of it is still sitting in the adjacent storage yard and that area is almost full. Aid agencies have had difficulty moving the food to areas further into Gaza where it is most needed because the humanitarian convoys have come under attack.

The United Nations, which has the widest reach in delivering aid to starving Palestinians, ceased distributing food and other emergency supplies arriving through the pier June 9. The pause came after the Israeli military used an area near the pier to fly out hostages after their rescue in a raid that killed more than 270 Palestinians , prompting a U.N. security review over concerns that aid workers’ safety and neutrality may have compromised.

On Saturday, the U.N. said humanitarian workers had started moving tons of aid that piled up at the pier to warehouses in Gaza.

WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told The Associated Press this is a one-time operation until the beach is cleared of the aid and is being done to avoid spoilage. Further U.N. operations at the pier depend on security assessments, Etefa said.

While always meant to be temporary and never touted as a complete solution to the problems getting humanitarian aid into Gaza, President Joe Biden’s $230 million project has faced a series of setbacks since aid first rolled ashore May 17 and has been criticized by relief groups and congressional Republicans as a costly distraction.

The pier has been used to get more than 19.4 million pounds of food into Gaza, but has been stymied not only by aid pauses but unpredictable weather. Rough seas damaged the pier just days into its initial operations, forcing the military to remove it temporarily for repairs and then reinstall it. Heavy seas on Friday forced the military to remove it again and take it to the Israeli port at Ashdod.

Several U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said the military could reinstall the pier once the bad weather passes in the coming days, but the final decision on whether to reinstall it hasn’t been made.

Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, acknowledged that she doesn’t know when the pier will be reinstalled.

“When the commander decides that it is the right time to reinstall that pier, we’ll keep you updated on that,” she said.

She also said Friday that there is a need for more aid to come into Cyprus and be transported to the pier. She noted that the secure area onshore is “pretty close to full,” but that the intention is still to get aid into Gaza by all means necessary. She said the U.S. is having discussions with the aid agencies about the distribution of the food.

But, she added, “Of course, if there’s not enough room in the marshaling yard, then it doesn’t make sense to put our men or women out there when there’s nothing to do.”

Palestinians are facing widespread hunger because fighting in the nearly nine-month Israel-Hamas war , Israeli restrictions on border crossings that are far more productive than the sea route and the attacks on the aid convoys have severely limited the flow of food, medicine and other supplies.

Ellen Knickmeyer contributed from Washington.

Editor’s note: Additional Associated Press reporting by Julia Frankel and Wafaa Shurafa contributed to this story.

Tara Copp is a Pentagon correspondent for the Associated Press. She was previously Pentagon bureau chief for Sightline Media Group.

美国官员周五表示，由于天气原因，美国军方为向加沙运送援助物资而建造的码头已被拆除以保护其安全。除非援助物资再次开始流向加沙民众，否则美国正在考虑不再重新安装该码头。

虽然军方已协助通过码头运送了急需的食品，但绝大部分食品仍滞留在附近的仓库里，而且仓库几乎已经爆满。由于人道主义救援车队遭到袭击，援助机构难以将食品运送到加沙地带更深处的急需地区。

联合国是向饥饿的巴勒斯坦人提供援助的最广泛机构，但自6月9日起，它停止分发通过该码头运抵的食品和其他紧急物资。此前，以色列军方在一次袭击中解救了270多名巴勒斯坦人质，并利用码头附近的一处区域将人质空运出境。此次袭击导致270多名巴勒斯坦人丧生，引发了联合国的安全审查，因为人们担心援助人员的安全和中立性可能受到了损害。

联合国周六表示，人道主义工作者已开始将堆积在码头的数吨援助物资运往加沙的仓库。

世界粮食计划署发言人阿比尔·埃特法告诉美联社，这是一次性行动，直到海滩上的援助物资被清理干净为止，此举是为了防止物资变质。埃特法表示，联合国在码头的进一步行动取决于安全评估结果。

尽管拜登总统的这项耗资 2.3 亿美元的援助计划原本只是暂时的，也从未被吹捧为解决向加沙提供人道主义援助问题的彻底方案，但自 5 月 17 日援助物资首次抵达加沙以来，该计划遭遇了一系列挫折，并受到救援组织和国会共和党人的批评，认为这是一个代价高昂的干扰。

该码头已向加沙运送了超过1940万磅的食品，但不仅受到援助中断的影响，还受到变幻莫测的天气的影响。码头投入使用仅数日便因海况恶劣而受损，迫使军方暂时将其拆除进行维修，之后再重新安装。周五，由于海况恶劣，军方再次将其拆除，并运往以色列阿什杜德港。

几位不愿透露姓名的美国官员在谈到军事行动时表示，一旦未来几天恶劣天气过去，军方可能会重新安装码头，但尚未做出是否重新安装的最终决定。

五角大楼发言人萨布丽娜·辛格承认，她不知道码头何时会重新安装。

“当指挥官认为时机成熟可以重新安装那个码头时，我们会及时通知大家，”她说。

她周五还表示，需要更多援助物资运抵塞浦路斯并运往码头。她指出，岸上的安全区域“几乎已满”，但其目标仍然是尽一切必要手段将援助物资送入加沙。她说，美国正在与援助机构商讨食品分配事宜。

但她补充说：“当然，如果集结场没有足够的空间，那么当我们的士兵无事可做时，把他们派到那里去就没有意义了。”

由于近九个月的以色列-哈马斯战争、以色列对比海路效率高得多的边境口岸的限制以及对援助车队的袭击，巴勒斯坦人正面临普遍的饥饿，这些都严重限制了食品、药品和其他物资的流通。

艾伦·尼克迈耶从华盛顿报道。

编者按：美联社记者 Julia Frankel 和 Wafaa Shurafa 的补充报道对本文亦有贡献。

塔拉·科普是美联社驻五角大楼记者。她此前曾担任Sightline媒体集团驻五角大楼分社社长。