WASHINGTON: The temporary US pier aimed at boosting aid shipments to Gaza has been reattached to the coast and deliveries of humanitarian assistance have resumed, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
The pier was moved to an Israeli port last week to protect it from anticipated high seas — the second time that bad weather required it to be detached from the coast since it was first installed last month.
“I can confirm that US Central Command personnel reanchored and reestablished the temporary pier to the Gaza beach yesterday,” with Israeli forces assisting so there were no American troops on the ground, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists.
The delivery of aid via the pier resumed overnight, bringing the total brought into Gaza using the structure to more than 4,100 metric tons (nine million pounds) of assistance, he said.
The pier was first anchored to the Gaza coast in mid-May, but was damaged by bad weather later in the month and had to be removed for repairs.
It was then reattached to the coast on June 7, but aid deliveries were soon paused for two days due to weather conditions, and the pier was then temporarily removed on June 14.
In another challenge to efforts to deliver aid by sea, the UN World Food Program has suspended the distribution of assistance that arrives via the pier to assess the security situation.
The move came after Israel conducted a military operation nearby that freed four hostages, but which Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry said killed more than 270 Palestinians.
Gaza is suffering through a war which broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, although the army says 41 are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 37,431 people, also mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.
US pier reattached to Gaza coast, aid deliveries resume
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US pier reattached to Gaza coast, aid deliveries resume
- The pier was moved to an Israeli port last week to protect it from anticipated high seas
- It is the second time that bad weather required it to be detached from the coast since it was first installed last month
Iran president says will not halt nuclear activity ‘under any circumstances’
- “We are ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities,” said Pezeshkian
TEHRAN: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday his country will not halt nuclear activity “under any circumstances” amid ongoing fighting with Israel which hit nuclear sites.
“We are ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities, however, we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances,” said Pezeshkian during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Cyprus arrests British man on suspicion of terror-related plot, police say
- The man appeared before a district court on Saturday
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a post on X that an Iranian attempt to attack Israeli citizens in Cyprus was thwarted
NICOSIA: Police in Cyprus have arrested a British man on suspicion of terror-related offenses and espionage, authorities said on Saturday, with Israel accusing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of trying to attack Israeli citizens on the island.
The man appeared before a district court on Saturday, which ordered an eight-day detention pending inquiries.
Police gave no further details, citing national security.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a post on X that an Iranian attempt to attack Israeli citizens in Cyprus was thwarted, “thanks to the activity of the Cypriot security authorities, in cooperation with Israeli security services.”
He gave no more details about the nature of the attack, and there was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed the individual’s nationality, saying it was in contact with local authorities.
“We are in contact (with) the authorities in Cyprus regarding the arrest of a British man,” the spokesperson told Reuters.
Several Cypriot news outlets reported the suspect was a man of Azeri ethnic descent and had been arrested in the Zakaki suburb of the coastal city of Limassol. The suspect was thought to have had a British RAF military base in nearby Akrotiri under surveillance, as well as Cyprus’s own Andreas Papandreou Air Base in the western region of Paphos since mid-April, Cyprus’s ANT1 news portal reported.
Cyprus lies very close to the Middle East and has in recent days been used as a transit point for people either leaving or going to the region amid the conflict between regional foes Israel and Iran.
Terror-related offenses on the island are very rare.
IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit
- “There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi said
VIENNA: The UN nuclear agency confirmed on Saturday that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site had been hit, in the latest strike amid Israel’s bombing campaign.
“A centrifuge manufacturing workshop has been hit in Esfahan, the third such facility that has been targeted in Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear-related sites over the past week,” the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement quoting its chief Rafael Grossi.
“We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi was quoted as saying.
Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’
- “Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster,” Fidan said
- He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran
ISATANBUL: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday accused Israel of leading the Middle East toward “total disaster” by attacking Iran on June 13.
“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbor,” he told a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.
“There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem,” Fidan said.
He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran.
“We must prevent the situation from deteriorating into a spiral of violence that would further jeopardize regional and global security,” he added.
Speaking after Fidan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Western leaders of providing “unconditional support” to Israel.
He said Turkiye would not allow borders in the Middle East to be redrawn “in blood.”
“It is vital for us to show more solidarity to end Israel’s banditry — not only in Palestine but also in Syria, in Lebanon and in Iran,” he told the OIC’s 57 member countries.
The OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.”
Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel
- Attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded
TEHRAN: Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people since they began last week, Iran’s health ministry said in an updated toll on Saturday, as fighting raged between the two foes.
“As of this morning, Israeli attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded by missiles and drones,” health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said in a post on X.
