Aid deliveries to Gaza continue with rebuilt pier – vopbuzz
U.S. forces said humanitarian aid began flowing back into the devastated Gaza Strip through a reconstructed temporary dock on Saturday.
Built by the U.S. military to expedite the delivery of urgently needed relief supplies, the pier was only briefly operational before being damaged by a storm in late May. Following repairs, the pipeline was reinstalled on Friday.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) wrote in a social media post that crews delivered approximately 492 tons (1.1 million pounds) of “much-needed humanitarian aid” via the pier on Saturday morning.
aid groups and United Nations He accused Israel of delaying the entry of water, food, medicine and fuel into Gaza, depriving 2.4 million people in the region of life-saving resources.
The reactivation of the pier came on the same day that Israel launched an operation to rescue four hostages from a refugee camp in central Gaza, where a Hamas-run media office reported that 210 Palestinians had been killed and hundreds more injured in the attacks.
CENTCOM emphasized that the dock, its personnel and assets were in no way connected to the hostage rescue operation.
The Israeli army said the four hostages, who were in “good medical condition”, were kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the Oct. 7 attack that sparked Hamas’ war, which is now in its ninth month.
The army said 26-year-old Noa Argamani, 22-year-old Almog Meir Jan, 27-year-old Andrey Kozlov and 41-year-old Shlomi Ziv were rescued “in a complex daytime operation” from two separate buildings in the camp “in the heart of Nuseirat”.
They are among seven captives released alive by Israeli forces since Palestinian militants captured 251 people in an October attack on southern Israel.
There are currently 116 hostages left in Gaza; These include 41 people the military said were dead.
Footage posted on social media showed beachgoers cheering when the lifeguard in Tel Aviv announced the news.
“We had these hostages in our minds every day for the better part of a year; despite everything, even saving a few of them would mean the world,” 42-year-old Israeli Uriya Bekenstein told AFP. .
Hamas media office in Gaza said that “the death toll in the Israeli occupation massacre in Nuseyrat camp has risen to 210 martyrs and more than 400 injured.”
Israeli police said one officer was fatally injured during the rescue operation.
This operation was carried out despite increasing international pressure on Israel following a deadly attack on a UN-run school in Nuseyrat, where displaced Gazans were being housed.
Ceasefire ‘necessary’
Demonstrators gathered again in Tel Aviv on Saturday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces regular protests demanding a ceasefire agreement to bring captives home.
“Noa (Argamani) is home! We want them all!” read a banner at the protest.
On Saturday, Netanyahu promised to return the rest of the captives.
His office also released a video of himself speaking to Argamani on his cell phone.
He said he was “very excited” to return home, adding: “I haven’t spoken Hebrew in a long time.”
US President Joe Biden welcomed the rescue operation and said: “We will not stop working until all hostages are returned home and a ceasefire is reached. It is very important that this happens.”
Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, he said: “We rejoice in the release of the four Israeli hostages.”
On Saturday, near Nuseyrat, a photographer saw many Palestinians fleeing the Bureij camp on foot, fearing continued Israeli attacks.
The operation came just days after Israel attacked the Nuseyrat school, run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which a hospital in Gaza killed 37 people and which the military said targeted “terrorists”.
UNRWA condemned Israel for attacking a facility it said was housing 6,000 displaced people.
Israel accuses Hamas and its allies in Gaza of using civilian infrastructure, including UN facilities, as operational centers, charges the militants deny.
According to the Hamas-run region’s health ministry, the war has caused widespread destruction in Gaza; One in every 20 people died or was injured. Most of Gaza’s 2.4 million population has been displaced.
Gaza City resident Yussef al-Dalu said his neighbor’s house was turned into a pile of rubble during the overnight airstrike. Emergency services reported five people dead.
“Only defenseless civilians who are not part of any resistance (group) live in this house,” Dalu told AFP.
‘Difficulties continue’
The Hamas attack that triggered the war resulted in 1,194 deaths, mostly civilians, according to AFP’s calculation based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 36,801 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-controlled territory’s health ministry.
Israel faces increasing diplomatic isolation amid international trials accusing it of war crimes and recognition of the Palestinian state by many European countries.
Thousands of people marched in London on Saturday calling for a ceasefire, and demonstrators gathered outside the White House to protest Washington’s support for Israel during Gaza’s deadliest-ever war.
Facing political pressure, Netanyahu called on war cabinet minister Benny Gantz “not to leave the emergency government” after threatening last month to resign if a post-war plan for Gaza was not approved by June 8.
Gantz had previously canceled the press conference planned for Saturday, where Israeli media predicted he would announce his resignation.
In brief remarks on Israeli television on Saturday evening, Gantz called on his government colleagues to “look responsibly” at “how we can move on from here.”
Efforts to broker the first ceasefire in the conflict since a week-long pause in November appear to have stalled after Biden presented the latest plan for a multi-phase ceasefire and the release of hostages.
Major sticking points include Hamas’ insistence on a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from all parts of Gaza; These demands are claims that Israel rejects.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel and key regional partners Egypt, Jordan and Qatar starting Monday.
Built by the U.S. military to expedite the delivery of urgently needed relief supplies, the pier was only briefly operational before being damaged by a storm in late May. Following repairs, the pipeline was reinstalled on Friday.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) wrote in a social media post that crews delivered approximately 492 tons (1.1 million pounds) of “much-needed humanitarian aid” via the pier on Saturday morning.
aid groups and United Nations He accused Israel of delaying the entry of water, food, medicine and fuel into Gaza, depriving 2.4 million people in the region of life-saving resources.
The reactivation of the pier came on the same day that Israel launched an operation to rescue four hostages from a refugee camp in central Gaza, where a Hamas-run media office reported that 210 Palestinians had been killed and hundreds more injured in the attacks.
CENTCOM emphasized that the dock, its personnel and assets were in no way connected to the hostage rescue operation.
The Israeli army said the four hostages, who were in “good medical condition”, were kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the Oct. 7 attack that sparked Hamas’ war, which is now in its ninth month.
The army said 26-year-old Noa Argamani, 22-year-old Almog Meir Jan, 27-year-old Andrey Kozlov and 41-year-old Shlomi Ziv were rescued “in a complex daytime operation” from two separate buildings in the camp “in the heart of Nuseirat”.
They are among seven captives released alive by Israeli forces since Palestinian militants captured 251 people in an October attack on southern Israel.
There are currently 116 hostages left in Gaza; These include 41 people the military said were dead.
Footage posted on social media showed beachgoers cheering when the lifeguard in Tel Aviv announced the news.
“We had these hostages in our minds every day for the better part of a year; despite everything, even saving a few of them would mean the world,” 42-year-old Israeli Uriya Bekenstein told AFP. .
Hamas media office in Gaza said that “the death toll in the Israeli occupation massacre in Nuseyrat camp has risen to 210 martyrs and more than 400 injured.”
Israeli police said one officer was fatally injured during the rescue operation.
This operation was carried out despite increasing international pressure on Israel following a deadly attack on a UN-run school in Nuseyrat, where displaced Gazans were being housed.
Ceasefire ‘necessary’
Demonstrators gathered again in Tel Aviv on Saturday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces regular protests demanding a ceasefire agreement to bring captives home.
“Noa (Argamani) is home! We want them all!” read a banner at the protest.
On Saturday, Netanyahu promised to return the rest of the captives.
His office also released a video of himself speaking to Argamani on his cell phone.
He said he was “very excited” to return home, adding: “I haven’t spoken Hebrew in a long time.”
US President Joe Biden welcomed the rescue operation and said: “We will not stop working until all hostages are returned home and a ceasefire is reached. It is very important that this happens.”
Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, he said: “We rejoice in the release of the four Israeli hostages.”
On Saturday, near Nuseyrat, a photographer saw many Palestinians fleeing the Bureij camp on foot, fearing continued Israeli attacks.
The operation came just days after Israel attacked the Nuseyrat school, run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which a hospital in Gaza killed 37 people and which the military said targeted “terrorists”.
UNRWA condemned Israel for attacking a facility it said was housing 6,000 displaced people.
Israel accuses Hamas and its allies in Gaza of using civilian infrastructure, including UN facilities, as operational centers, charges the militants deny.
According to the Hamas-run region’s health ministry, the war has caused widespread destruction in Gaza; One in every 20 people died or was injured. Most of Gaza’s 2.4 million population has been displaced.
Gaza City resident Yussef al-Dalu said his neighbor’s house was turned into a pile of rubble during the overnight airstrike. Emergency services reported five people dead.
“Only defenseless civilians who are not part of any resistance (group) live in this house,” Dalu told AFP.
‘Difficulties continue’
The Hamas attack that triggered the war resulted in 1,194 deaths, mostly civilians, according to AFP’s calculation based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 36,801 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-controlled territory’s health ministry.
Israel faces increasing diplomatic isolation amid international trials accusing it of war crimes and recognition of the Palestinian state by many European countries.
Thousands of people marched in London on Saturday calling for a ceasefire, and demonstrators gathered outside the White House to protest Washington’s support for Israel during Gaza’s deadliest-ever war.
Facing political pressure, Netanyahu called on war cabinet minister Benny Gantz “not to leave the emergency government” after threatening last month to resign if a post-war plan for Gaza was not approved by June 8.
Gantz had previously canceled the press conference planned for Saturday, where Israeli media predicted he would announce his resignation.
In brief remarks on Israeli television on Saturday evening, Gantz called on his government colleagues to “look responsibly” at “how we can move on from here.”
Efforts to broker the first ceasefire in the conflict since a week-long pause in November appear to have stalled after Biden presented the latest plan for a multi-phase ceasefire and the release of hostages.
Major sticking points include Hamas’ insistence on a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from all parts of Gaza; These demands are claims that Israel rejects.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel and key regional partners Egypt, Jordan and Qatar starting Monday.
