Israel-Gaza: U.S. floating pier suspended again; fighting in Shejaiya

“As always, the safety of our service members is a top priority, and temporarily relocating the pier will prevent potential structural damage that could be caused by the heightened sea state,” she said.

The pier was announced by President Biden in his March State of the Union address as part of a broader effort by his administration to get food and other lifesaving aid to starving Gazans as the humanitarian situation worsens and the enclave remains largely sealed off.

The pier is not an end-all solution to getting aid into Gaza, Singh said, adding that land routes are the most effective delivery method. “We continue to urge for those land routes to be reopened.”

Another hurdle has been the suspension of operations by the United Nations’ World Food Program, partly responsible for the distribution of aid arriving from the pier, after an Israeli hostage rescue operation on June 8 freed four hostages and left more than 250 Palestinians dead. WFP spokesman Steve Taravella told the Associated Press on Friday that U.N. participation in the pier is still on pause pending the resolution of security concerns.

It comes as the United Nations warned that “access constraints — coupled with insecurity and ongoing hostilities — continue to significantly impede the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance and services across Gaza,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. secretary general, told reporters Friday.

“This includes critical food and nutrition aid, medical care, shelter support, and water, sanitation, and hygiene services for hundreds of thousands of people in need.”

Dujarric also said there had been “at least 60,000 people” displaced from the Shejaiya area east of Gaza City.

The Israeli military ordered residents to evacuate Thursday ahead of an ongoing raid it said yielded the discovery of a long-range rocket launcher and other weapons. Israeli troops originally withdrew from the area in January after the military announced it had “dismantled” Hamas infrastructure and battalions there.

Gaza’s civil defense force said Saturday that it had received “many appeals from families who have been besieged in the Shejaiya neighborhood” and appealed to international aid agencies to do more.

A doctor at northern Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital, roughly four miles from Shejaiya, said Saturday that his facility was receiving some of the casualties from the fighting. The electricity is out and the hospital is running on solar power, the doctor, Marwan al-Sultan, said, adding that they have very few resources to treat complex injuries.

“Supplies are exhausted and the medical staff have reached their limit,” he said.

Here’s what else to know

An assailant with a crossbow attacked a police officer guarding Israel’s embassy in Belgrade, Serbia’s Interior Minister said Saturday. In a statement, Ivica Davic said the attacker, 25-year-old Milos Zujovic, shot the officer in the neck. The officer then shot back, killing the suspect, whom Davic described as a recent convert to Islam. Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the incident an “an attempted terrorist attack,” adding that the embassy is closed and that no other employees were injured.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations warned of an “obliterating war” if Israel launches “full-scale military aggression” against Hezbollah in Lebanon. “All options … are on the table,” the mission said on X. Hezbollah is backed by Iran and has been engaged for months in a simmering conflict with Israeli forces. U.S. officials have said they are working to quiet fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that has pushed Lebanon to the brink of war.

More than 115,000 Gazans have crossed into Egypt since October, the Palestinian Authority’s embassy in Egypt estimates. Several thousand sick and wounded have been treated in Egyptian hospitals, while the vast majority of evacuees came with the help of foreign embassies or through tourism services. Most refugees remain in limbo, with no legal status and nowhere else to go. Washington Post reporters visited displaced Gazans at their homes and workplaces around Cairo.

Both U.S. presidential candidates mentioned the war in Gaza during a debate on Thursday. “We are the biggest producer of support for Israel in the world,” Biden said, adding: “Hamas cannot be allowed to continue.” Former president Donald Trump argued that Israel should be enabled to “finish the job.” He said Biden has “become like a Palestinian but they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weak one.”

At least 37,834 ​​people have been killed and 86,858 injured in Gaza since the war started, according to the Gaza Health Ministry on Saturday. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and it says 314 soldiers have been killed since the start of its military operations in Gaza.

Suliman and Bisset reported from London, and El Chamaa from Beirut. Miriam Berger in Jerusalem and Alon Rom and Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.