Washed up: US naval vessels unmoor from Gaza aid pier, resurface on beaches

US vessels attached to the country’s aid pier off the coast of Gaza disconnected in stormy seas, eventually washing up on the shore, The Times of Israel reported.

US Central Command acknowledged that four vessels escaped their moorings, with two of them washing up on a beach nearby. Another was stuck off the coast of the city of Ashdod; a ship sent to rescue it also became stuck.

CENTCOM has claimed the pier is still functional, adding that there were no injuries due to the incident.

US President Joe Biden’s vaunted aid pier ploy has been criticized by some observers, who fear it will become a channel for US troops to enter Gaza or Palestinians to be forcefully expelled. Aid deliveries via the $320 million port have so far fallen below expectations, providing just 15% of the estimated minimum daily need for the more than 2 million people in Gaza.

Israeli restrictions on the passage of vehicles reportedly contributed to less than 70% of the aid reaching distribution points. Reporting on Thursday revealed the pier was first used to bring in military equipment, with the first delivery of food going to Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) troops.

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Dozens killed in Israeli strike on Rafah refugee camp – report

At least 35 people, most of them women and children, were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on a Palestinian tent encampment for refugees in western Rafah, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Witnesses alleged that at least eight airstrikes hit the camp of displaced people 600 feet from a United Nations warehouse. A Palestinian Red Crescent spokesperson said the death toll is likely to rise, also claiming the camp had been identified by the Israeli military as a “humanitarian area.”

A statement from the Israel Defense Forces confirmed the strike. “A short while ago, an IDF aircraft struck a Hamas compound in Rafah in which significant Hamas terrorists were operating,” read the statement. The IDF later said that the strike killed Yassin Rabia, the Hamas Chief of Staff in the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The attack comes shortly after a barrage of Hamas rockets reached central Israel Sunday, the group’s first long-range strikes in months. No deaths or injuries have been reported as a consequence of the blitz. Hamas’ military branch justified the attack in a statement on Telegram as a response to “Zionist massacres against civilians.” Earlier in the day Gaza’s health ministry reported 81 people had been killed by Israeli attacks over the last 24 hours.

Almost 36,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s military operation in Gaza, according to the local health ministry, although the death toll is thought to be higher given thousands of bodies still buried underneath the rubble of IDF airstrikes.

“Around 80% of the population's 2.3 million people have fled their homes, severe hunger is widespread and UN officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine,” according to US media. UNICEF reports that almost all of the 600,000 children taking refuge in the southern Gaza city of Rafah are “injured, sick or malnourished.”

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Report: Israeli settlers, IDF team up to destroy Gaza aid amid ‘full-blown famine’

Video has emerged in recent weeks of Israeli West Bank settlers attacking and destroying aid trucks headed for the besieged Gaza Strip, reportedly with the acquiescence and even active participation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and police.

“The settler groups use a web of publicly accessible WhatsApp groups to track the trucks and coordinate attacks,” the Washington Post reported. ”Groups of settler youth are tailing relief convoys, setting up checkpoints and interrogating drivers. In some cases, far-right attackers have ransacked and burned trucks and beaten Palestinian drivers, leaving at least two hospitalized.”

“Working off what they say are tips from Israeli soldiers and police, in addition to the public, members pore over photos to work out which vehicles might be carrying aid to Gaza and mobilize local supporters to block them.”

One Palestinian driver suffered a broken nose, ribs and vertebrae after being attacked by a group of Israeli settlers who asked him whether he was “a Jew or Arab.” The driver’s vehicle was burned and his $200,000 worth of goods was destroyed.

“It’s not our job to stop [Israeli settlers], it’s our job to protect them,” said one female IDF soldier, defending the military’s failure to stop the attacks.

The World Food Program reports northern Gaza is in a state of “full-blown famine,” with food scarcity spreading south.

“I’m happy for every truck that doesn’t enter Gaza,” said 23-year-old Yosef de Bresser, a leader of an extremist settler group. “I’m also happy to see it catch fire.”

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