Four US vessels run aground near Gaza pier

TAMPA: Heavy seas battered the US maritime humanitarian mission to Gaza on Saturday, US Central Command (Centcom) said, with four vessels serving a floating aid delivery pier breaking free from their moorings.

No injuries were reported and the aid pier remained fully functional, Centcom said in a statement, adding that no US personnel would enter Gaza.

Two of the affected vessels were now anchored on the beach near the pier and the other two were beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon, Centcom said, adding that efforts to recover the vessels were under way with assistance from the Israeli navy.

Israel has imposed a siege on Gaza that has deprived the territory’s 2.4 million people of clean water, food, medicines and fuel.

US President Joe Biden had said in March the pier would be built to alleviate restrictions imposed by Israel on delivery by land to Gaza.

The UN World Food Programme “took possession of 97 trucks since the floating dock came into operation” on May 17, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres, told reporters on Friday.

In the first few days of deliveries, desperate people made off with the contents of some trucks heading to warehouses, but the situation has now stabilised, he said.