In Gaza, UN starts to move tons of aid from US-built pier

Humanitarian workers have started moving tons of aid that piled up at a United States-built pier off Gaza coast to warehouses in besieged territory, United Nations said Saturday, an important step as U.S. considers wher to resume pier operations after yet anor pause due to heavy seas.

It was not clear when aid might reach Palestinians in Gaza, where experts have warned of high risk of famine as war between Israel and Hamas militants is in its ninth month. This is first time trucks have moved aid from pier since U.N.’s World Food Program suspended operations re due to security concerns on June 9.

Millions of pounds of aid have piled up. In just last week, more than 10 million pounds were moved ashore, according to U.S. military.

A WFP spokesperson, Abeer Etefa, told Associated Press this is a one-time operation until beach is cleared of aid and is being done to avoid spoilage. Furr U.N. operations at pier depend on U.N. security assessments, Etefa ded. U.N. is investigating wher pier was used in an Israeli military operation last month to rescue three hostages.

If WFP trucks successfully bring aid to warehouses inside Gaza, that could affect U.S. military’s decision wher to reinstall pier, which was removed due to wear Friday. U.S. officials said y were considering not reinstalling pier because of possibility that aid would not be picked up.

Even if U.N. decides to keep transporting aid from pier into Gaza, lawlessness around humanitarian convoys will be a furr challenge to distribution. convoys have come under attack in Gaza. While most aid deliveries come by land, restrictions around border crossings and on what items can enter Gaza have furr hurt a population that was alrey dependent on humanitarian aid before war.

June 9 pause at pier came after Israeli military used a nearby area to fly out hostages after ir rescue in a raid that killed more than 270 Palestinians , prompting a U.N. review over concerns that aid workers’ safety and neutrality may have been compromised.

Meanwhile Saturday, a senior Biden ministration official said U.S. has presented new language to intermediaries Egypt and Qatar aimed at trying to jump-start stalled Israel-Hamas negotiations. official, who requested anonymity to discuss effort that White House has yet to publicly unveil, said revised text focuses on negotiations that are to start between Israel and Hamas during first phase of a three-phase deal that President Joe Biden laid out nearly a month ago.

first phase calls for a “full and complete cease-fire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and release of a number of hostages, including women, elderly and wounded, in exchange for release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

proposal called for parties to negotiate terms of second phase during 42 days of phase one. Under current proposal, Hamas could release all remaining men, both civilians and soldiers. In return, Israel could free an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. releases won’t occur until “sustainable calm” takes effect and all Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza.

new proposed language, which official did not detail, aims to find a workaround of differences between Israel and Hamas about parameters of negotiations between phase one and phase two.

Hamas wants those negotiations centered on number and identity of Palestinian prisoners who will be released from Israeli jails in exchange for remaining living Israeli soldiers and male hostages held in Gaza, official said. Israel wants negotiations to be much broer and include demilitarization of territory controlled by Hamas.

More than 37,800 Palestinians have been killed in war since it began with Hamas’ attack on sourn Israel on Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its toll. ministry said bodies of 40 people killed by Israeli strikes h been brought to local hospitals over past 24 hours.

A child was among wounded being treated Saturday after an Israeli strike on Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

Oct. 7 Hamas attack killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and anor 250 people were taken hostage.

Israeli forces have been battling Palestinian militants in an eastern part of Gaza City over last week. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled ir homes, according to U.N.

“It’s like first weeks of invasion,” one resident, Mahmoud al-Masry said of intensity of fighting. “Many people were killed. Many houses were destroyed. y strike anything moving.”

Israeli military acknowledged an operation against Hamas fighters in Shijaiyah and on Saturday noted “close-quarters combat.”

Elsewhere, thousands of Palestinians who remained in Gaza’s sournmost city of Rafah fled Friday for Muwasi, a crowded coastal tent camp designated by Israeli army as a safe zone. Some told AP y evacuated because Israeli gunfire and missiles h come close to where y were sheltering.

Over 1.3 million Palestinians have fled Rafah since Israel’s incursion into city in early May, while aid groups warn re are no safe places to go.

With heat in Gaza reaching over 32 degrees Celsius (89 Fahrenheit), many displaced people have found tents unbearable. territory has been without electricity since Israel cut off power as part of war, and Israel also stopped pumping drinking water to enclave.

“Death is better than it, it is a grave,” said Barawi Bakroun, who was displaced from Gaza City, as ors fanned mselves with pieces of cardboard.