WASHINGTON (AP) — A temporary vessel built by the United States A ship carrying humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians in less than two weeks off the coast of Gaza will be repaired after damage from sea and weather, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
In the next two days, the vessel will be towed from the beach and sent to the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, where US Central Command will repair it, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. He said the repairs would take “at least more than a week” after which the ship would have to re-anchor off the coast in Gaza.
“When it was in operation, it worked, and we had an unfortunate confluence of weather storms that put it down for a while,” Singh said. “A little over a week later, we should be up and running again.”
The ship, used to carry humanitarian aid arriving by sea, is one of the few ways Palestinians can get free food and other supplies. On the brink of famine In the midst of an almost 8-month-old baby War between Israel and Hamas In Gaza.
The two main crossings in southern Gaza are Rafah from Egypt and Kerem Shalom from Israel Not functioning or mostly inaccessible As Israel pushes into Rafah, fighting near the U.N. A ship and two ferries from Israel in northern Gaza have entered most of the incoming humanitarian aid over the past three weeks.
The setback is the latest for the $320 million dock, which began operating only two weeks ago and has already injured three U.S. service members and driven four ships ashore due to rough seas. Singh said two service members suffered minor injuries, but the third was still in critical condition.
There were also supplies Stopped for two days Last week, aid trucks from the ship were mobbed and a Palestinian was shot dead.
The ship was fully operational late on Saturday as heavy seas towed away four military boats used to ferry aid from merchant ships to the ship. The structure was anchored off the coast in Gaza and provided a long causeway for trucks to drive the aid ashore.
Two ships stranded off the coast of Israel. One has already been recovered and the other will be recovered in the next 24 hours with the help of the Israeli army, Singh said. He said the other two boats were stranded off the coast of Gaza and would be recovered in the next two days.
AP Washington Correspondent Sagar Meghani, a makeshift US-built ship used to ferry aid into Gaza has been damaged by rough seas.
The suspension of the ship comes after that The new sea route began to pick up steamMore than 1,000 metric tons of food aid was provided.
U.S. officials have repeatedly insisted that the docks will not be able to deliver the aid to the starving Gazans and that additional checkpoints for humanitarian trucks must be opened. At maximum capacity, the ship would bring enough food for Gaza’s 500,000 people, and US officials have stressed the need for an open land crossing for the remaining 1.8 million.
The U.S. also plans to continue delivering food by air, which may not meet all needs.
A deepening Israeli attack on the southern city of Rafah It has made it impossible for aid ships to pass through the crossing, a key source of fuel and food into Gaza. Israel says aid is coming through another border crossing, Kerem Shalom, but humanitarian organizations say Israeli military operations are making it difficult for them to retrieve aid for distribution.
