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
Lebanese leaders indirectly urge Hezbollah to stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict
- Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged all sides in Lebanon to maintain calm and preserve the country’s stability
- The Hezbollah-Israel war left over 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused destruction worth $11 billions. In Israel, 127 people, including 80 soldiers, were killed
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s president and prime minister said Monday that their country must stay out of the conflict between Israel and Iran because any engagement would be detrimental to the small nation engulfed in an economic crisis and struggling to recover from the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.
Their remarks amounted to a message to the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group — an ally of both Iran and the Palestinian militant Hamas group in Gaza — to stay out of the fray.
Hezbollah, which launched its own strikes on Israel a day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, has been hard-hit and suffered significant losses on the battlefield until a US-brokered ceasefire last November ended the 14 months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.
Earlier this year, Hamas fighters inside Lebanon fired rockets from Lebanese soil, drawing Israeli airstrikes and leading to arrests of Hamas members by Lebanese authorities.
The Hezbollah-Israel war left over 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused destruction worth $11 billions; Hezbollah was pushed away from areas bordering Israel in south Lebanon. In Israel, 127 people, including 80 soldiers, were killed during the war.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam spoke during a Cabinet meeting Monday that also discussed the Iran-Israel conflict and the spike in regional tensions over the past four days.
Information Minister Paul Morkos later told reporters that Aoun urged all sides in Lebanon to maintain calm and preserve the country’s stability. For his part, Salam said Lebanon should not be involved in “any form in the war,” Morkos added.
Hezbollah, funded and armed by Iran, has long been considered Tehran’s most powerful ally in the region but its latest war with Israel also saw much of Hezbollah’s political and military leadership killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Since Israel on Friday launched strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program and top military leaders, drawing Iran’s retaliatory ballistic missiles at Israel, the back-and-forth has raised concerns that the region, already on edge over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, would be plunged into even greater upheaval.
First European commercial plane lands in Damascus airport in over a decade
- Dan Air’s plane was carrying 138 passengers, including Syrians and foreign nationals
- It announced flights from Damascus to Bucharest, the German cities of Frankfurt and Berlin, and the Swedish capital, Stockholm
LONDON: Damascus International Airport in the Syrian Arab Republic welcomed its first European commercial flight this week since the civil war began in 2011.
A European airline, Dan Air, landed in Damascus on Sunday after flying from Bucharest, the capital of Romania, the SANA news agency reported.
Mohammad Nidal Al-Shaar, the minister of economy and industry in Syria’s interim government, was on the plane that was received in Damascus by Radu Gimpostan, who led the Romanian Embassy’s delegation.
Dan Air’s plane carried 138 passengers, including Syrians and foreign nationals, and the return flight from Damascus to Bucharest would carry 125 passengers. The airline has announced flights from Damascus to Bucharest, the German cities of Frankfurt and Berlin, and the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
Syrian officials said that the flights would facilitate the mobility of travelers between Syria and Europe following more than a decade of interrupted aviation services.
Israeli forces evict Jenin families, convert homes into military outposts
- Houses belonging to the Yaseen family were seized after about 50 people evicted
- Soldiers ‘roaming the streets, firing live ammunition and tear gas, shutting down businesses and harassing residents,’ says Rummana council head
LONDON: Israeli forces in Jenin have evicted many Palestinian families and converted their homes into military outposts across several villages.
The Israeli activity took place across the occupied West Bank city over the past week.
Mohammad Issa, head of the Aneen village council in the west of Jenin, told Wafa news agency on Monday that Israeli troops stormed two homes belonging to the Yaseen family last Friday and forcibly evicted five families of about 50 people.
The homes were later utilized as military outposts while Israeli forces continued to raid Aneen village daily, deploying armored vehicles, erecting roadblocks and stopping-and-searching residents, Wafa added.
“The presence of soldiers inside residential homes has created a climate of fear and insecurity,” said Issa. “Commercial activity has slowed dramatically as a result.”
Hassan Sbeihat, head of the Rummana village council, told Wafa that Israeli forces had converted 11 homes in the elevated western part of the village into military positions over the last four days.
“Israeli infantry patrols are roaming the streets, firing live ammunition and tear gas, shutting down businesses and harassing residents,” Sbeihat said.
He added that families were forcibly displaced and sought shelter with relatives, with no clear sign of when they might return to their homes.
Aziz Zaid, head of the Nazlat al-Sheikh village council, said that Israeli forces evicted residents Wajdi Fadl Saeed Zaid and Omar Hassan Al-Bari from their homes, which were converted into outposts.
He added that the Israeli military continues to conduct house-to-house searches and physically assault residents, Wafa reported.
Zaid said that Israeli forces closed the village’s western entrance, blocked the main road and closed a pharmacy as well as grocery store.
Sultan of Oman, Iranian president discuss Israeli strikes, diplomatic solutions
- President Masoud Pezeshkian says while Iran faces Israeli aggression, it supports diplomatic solutions
- Sultan Haitham bin Tarik condemns damage caused by Israeli strikes on Iranian infrastructure and facilities
LONDON: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman held a phone call on Monday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to offer condolences for the Iranian victims of Israeli airstrikes and discuss the latest developments.
Sultan Haitham condemned the damage caused by Israeli strikes to infrastructure and facilities, wishing a speedy recovery to the injured Iranian citizens. He stressed the need for de-escalation from both sides and called for negotiations and dialogue to prevent the ongoing conflict from deteriorating, the Oman News Agency reported.
He reaffirmed the Omani government’s commitment to activate diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis, prevent its escalation, and establish fair and just settlements that restore normalcy.
Pezeshkian said that while his country is facing Israeli aggression, it supports diplomatic solutions through dialogue and negotiation, emphasizing the importance of adhering to international law and respecting Iran’s sovereignty, the ONA added.
38 Palestinians killed in new shootings near food distribution centers, medics say
KHAN YOUNIS: Gaza’s Health Ministry says 38 Palestinians have been killed in new shootings in areas of food distribution centers in the south of the territory.
The toll Monday was the deadliest yet in the near-daily shootings that have taken place as thousands of Palestinians move through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach the food centers. Witnesses say Israeli troops open fire in an attempt to control the crowds.
There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military on Monday’s deaths. It has said in previous instances that troops fired warning shots at what it calls suspects approaching their positions.
