The U.S.-built aid pier will be detached from Gaza’s coast for a second time due to rough seas, two U.S. officials said Friday, raising further questions about the viability of the sea route.
The military is detaching the causeway and moving it late Friday and into Saturday to prevent it from breaking apart as it did late last month in bad weather, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military planning.
The officials expect it will be back in place by next week and will be operating again. Although aid has been unloaded at a secure area onshore for several days, aid agencies have stopped picking up and distributing the aid while they conduct a security review.
Palestinians are facing widespread hunger because the war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies. U.N. agencies say over 1 million in Gaza could experience the highest level of starvation by mid-July.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday he doesn’t expect to seal a Gaza cease-fire deal in the near future, as an American-backed proposal with global support has not been fully embraced by Israel or Hamas.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 37,100 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
Israel launched the war after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.
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