UN food agency pauses delivery of aid from US pier in Gaza, citing safety concerns

The director of the UN World Food Program says Sunday the program has “paused” its distribution of humanitarian aid from an American-built pier off Gaza, saying she was “concerned about the safety of our people” after what had been one of the deadliest days of the war there.

Saturday saw both an Israeli military operation that freed four hostages from Hamas captivity but was accompanied by deadly fighting, and, Cindy McCain says, two of WFP’s warehouses in Gaza had been “rocketed” and a staffer injured.

The UN announcement of the pause appears the latest setback for the US sea route, set up to try to bring more aid to Gaza’s starving people.

The US Agency for International Development describes the pause as a step to allow for a security review by the humanitarian community in Gaza. USAID works with the World Food Program and their humanitarian partners in Gaza to distribute food and other aid coming from the US-operated pier.

The UN agency gives no further details, including how long the pause will last. WFP spokespeople do not respond to requests for further details.

Asked about the pier operation during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” McCain says: “Right now we’re paused.”

“I’m concerned about the safety of our people after the incident yesterday,” McCain says, without elaboration. “We also, two of our warehouses, the warehouse complex were rocketed yesterday.”

“We’ve stepped back for the moment,” she says, and want “to make sure that we’re on safe terms and on safe ground before we’ll restart. But the rest of the country is operational. We’re doing … everything we can in the north and the south.”

USAID says in a statement to The Associated Press that it’s working with other US government officials and with humanitarian groups in Gaza “to ensure that aid can safely and effectively resume movement following completion of the security review that the humanitarian community is currently undertaking.”