WASHINGTON — The director of the UN World Food Program said on Sunday that the program has “paused” the distribution of humanitarian aid. an American-built pier from Gaza and said she was “concerned for the safety of our people” after what had been one of the events deadliest days of the war there.
Saturday both saw an Israeli military attack four hostages released but 274 Palestinians and one Israeli commando were killed, and, Cindy McCain said, two WFP warehouses in Gaza were “shot up” and an employee was injured.
The UN announcement of the pause on Sunday appears to be the latest setback for the US sea route, aimed at delivering more aid for the starving people of Gaza.
The US Agency for International Development described the pause as a step to allow for a security assessment by the humanitarian community in Gaza. USAID is working with the World Food Program and their humanitarian partners in Gaza to distribute food and other aid coming from the US-operated pier.
The American pier was completed in mid-May and was only operational for about a week before it was taken offline for two weeks due to storm damage. After repairs, it became operational again on Saturday, bringing in 1.1 million pounds (492 tonnes) of food and other aid, before McCain said her organization was suspending its humanitarian work there.
The UN agency did not provide further details, including how long the pause would last. WFP spokespeople did not respond to requests for further details.
Asked about the pier operation during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” McCain said, “Right now, we’re going to be quiet.”
“I am concerned for the safety of our people after yesterday’s incident,” McCain said without further explanation. “We, two of our warehouses, the warehouse complex were also shot yesterday.”
“We’ve taken a step back for now,” she said, and want to “make sure we’re on safe footing before we start again.” But the rest of the country is operational. We are doing… everything we can in the north and south.”
USAID said in a statement to The Associated Press that it was working with other U.S. government officials and with humanitarian groups in Gaza “to ensure that assistance can safely and effectively resume movement following the completion of the security assessment the humanitarian community is currently conducting.”
President Joe Biden announced this in March in his State of the Union address, he had ordered the U.S. military to set up the temporary pier. The U.S. project was intended to bring a limited amount of aid to Gaza, where Israeli restrictions on land crossings and fighting have pushed more than 1 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to the brink of famine.
Saturday’s resumption of the US pier project came on the same day Israel carried out a heavy air and ground project attack that rescued four hostagestaken by Hamas during the October 7 attack that launched the war in Gaza.
US Central Command is pushing back against social media claims following Israeli military operation said in a tweet It emerged on Saturday that neither the pier, nor its equipment, personnel or other assets were used in the Israeli operation. It noted that Israel used an area south of the pier “to safely return hostages.”
A core principle of humanitarian groups means that their work should be independent of the mission of combatants in a conflict zone, to prevent aid operations and aid workers from becoming targets.
USAID said in a separate statement on Saturday that no humanitarian workers were involved in the Israeli operation.
Speaking about the “shooting out” of WFP warehouses, McCain said Sunday that one staffer was injured but that “everyone else is fine.”
“That is why a ceasefire is necessary. That’s why we have to stop this” so that aid from her program and other organizations can flow into Gaza “on a large scale.”
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Sara Burnett contributed.