U.S. pier near Gaza expected to be put to use as humanitarian shipment leaves Cyprus

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: May 09, 2024 9:18 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

A vessel carrying aid to a floating pier built by the United States off Gaza has set sail, officials in Cyprus said Thursday.

The U.S.-flagged Sagamore left the port of Larnaca in Cyprus on Thursday morning. U.S. officials have said the vessel will be used to offload supplies onto a floating pier built to expedite aid into the besieged enclave.

It was not immediately clear how long the journey would take.

Cyprus opened a sea corridor in March to ship aid directly to Gaza, where deliveries via land have been severely disrupted by border closures and Israel's military offensive.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. military would be building a floating pier to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries just over two months ago, in his State of the Union speech.

Israel's military campaign against Hamas, in response to an attack the militant group led in Israel on Oct. 7, has devastated the tiny Gaza Strip, where aid agencies warn its 2.3 million people are facing imminent famine.

Biden's warning

In Gaza on Thursday, Israeli forces massed tanks and opened fire close to built-up areas of Rafah, residents said.

American officials have expressed concern about the lack of a viable humanitarian plan for a planned Israeli military operation in the densely packed Rafah section in southern Gaza. After fleeing combat farther north, Palestinians have crammed into tented camps and makeshift shelters in Rafah.

"I made it clear that if they go into Rafah … I'm not supplying the weapons," Biden told CNN in an interview on Wednesday.

WATCH l Biden concerned about Rafah operation:

The United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, and it accelerated deliveries after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7. Biden acknowledged that U.S. bombs have killed Palestinian civilians in the seven-month-old offensive.

U.S. officials have said Washington paused delivery of a shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs to Israel because of the risk to civilians in Gaza.

The Biden administration also has to deliver a report to Congress, which is now overdue, as to whether Israel has followed international law following the deliveries of weaponry.

Israel says Hamas militants are hiding in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge after fleeing combat elsewhere in Gaza, and it needs to eliminate them for its own security.

Israel's United Nations Ambassador Gilad Erdan said the U.S. decision to pause some weapons deliveries to Israel will significantly impair the country's ability to neutralize Hamas's power, according to Israeli public radio.

'Nowhere is safe': UN agency

Residents and medics in Rafah, the only major urban area in Gaza not yet invaded by Israeli ground forces, said Israeli tank fire killed three people and wounded others near a mosque in an eastern neighborhood.

On the city's eastern edge, residents said a helicopter opened fire, while drones hovered above houses in several areas, some close to rooftops.

Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters struck Israeli forces on the eastern outskirts of Rafah, firing anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli positions.

WATCH l Doctors work in dire circumstances in Gaza:

Israeli tanks seized the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route and forcing 80,000 people to flee the city this week, according to the United Nations.

"The toll on these families is unbearable. Nowhere is safe," the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said in a post on X.

An Israeli military statement on Gaza operations on Thursday morning did not refer to Rafah.

Israel kept up tank and aerial strikes across Gaza on Thursday, however. Tanks advanced in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City in the north, forcing hundreds of families to flee, residents said. The Israeli military said it was securing Zeitoun, starting with a series of intelligence-based aerial strikes on approximately 25 "terror targets."

Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza was heaving with thousands of people who had fled Rafah in recent days. Palestinian medics said two people, including a woman, were killed when a drone fired a missile at a group of people there.

Ceasefire talks continue

CIA Director William Burns was back in the Egyptian capital on Thursday after previous talks in Jerusalem, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters. The U.S. and Egypt are among a group of countries trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Izzat El-Reshiq, a member of Hamas's political office in Qatar, said in a statement late on Wednesday the group would not go beyond a ceasefire proposal it accepted on Monday.

That would also entail the release of some Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian women and children detained in Israel.

"Israel isn't serious about reaching an agreement and it is using the negotiation as a cover to invade Rafah and occupy the crossing," said Reshiq.

Earlier this week Israel declared the three-phase truce proposal approved by Hamas unacceptable, saying terms had been watered down. It did not respond immediately to the newest Hamas statement.

About 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, including several Canadian civilians, according to Israeli tallies.The Israeli government believes 128 others remain hostage in Gaza and 36 have been declared dead, from an initial total of 252 in captivity.

Israel's assault on Gaza in response has killed 34,904 Palestinians, most of them civilians, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said.