Gaza – Together – The director of the United Nations World Food Program said that the program ‘temporarily suspended’ the distribution of humanitarian aid from the American floating dock off Gaza, due to concerns related to ‘the safety of our staff.’
The program director, Cindy McCain, said in an interview with the American network CBS: ‘We have temporarily stopped for the time being,’ revealing that two of her organization’s warehouses in Gaza were bombed and an employee was injured.
She added: ‘I am concerned about the safety of our employees after yesterday’s incident… Two of our warehouses, the warehouse complex, were subjected to missile strikes yesterday… We have stopped working for the time being. We want to make sure that we are in safe conditions and on safe ground before we resume work.’ But work continues in the rest of the country, and we are doing everything we can in the north and south.’
She pointed out, “For this reason, a ceasefire is necessary. For this reason, we need to stop the war
so that aid from the United Nations program and other organizations can flow to Gaza on a large scale.”
In turn, the US Agency for International Development said in a statement that it is working with other US government officials and with humanitarian organizations in Gaza ‘to ensure that aid can be resumed safely and effectively after the completion of the security review currently being conducted by the humanitarian community.’
It is noteworthy that the US agency is working with the World Food Program and their humanitarian partners in Gaza to distribute food and other aid coming from the US-run pier.
Construction of the US Navy Pier was completed in mid-May. It worked for about a week before stopping work for about two weeks due to damage caused by storms.
After repairs, the dock was back in operation on Saturday, bringing in 1.1 million pounds (492 metric tons) worth of food and other aid, before McCain announced that her agency would temporarily halt its humanitarian work there.
The return of the p
ier to work on Saturday came on the same day that Israel launched an intense air and ground attack during which it freed 4 Israeli prisoners.
Source: Maan News Agency
