The United Nations shut down a US-built dock in Gaza

(New York/Jerusalem) The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip via a floating dock built by the US military to assess the security situation.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General, said Monday (June 10) that the suspension of the use of the floating pier is related to Israel's rescue of four hostages last weekend. "We have been advised by WFP personnel to suspend the movement of supplies at the floating terminal until the security situation has been assessed to ensure the safety of UN personnel and those of our partner agencies," he said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Monday that during the hostage rescue operation over the weekend, Israeli troops entered the refugee camp in Nuseirat in central Gaza in aid trucks.

It is known that two WFP warehouses were hit during the Israeli operation and one staff member was injured. Gaza's health ministry says at least 274 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 700 wounded.

The United States denies that the Israeli military used a floating pier to free the hostages

However, the Pentagon on Monday clarified that reports on social media platforms that Israel used a floating dock built by the U.S. military to rescue hostages were false.

A Pentagon spokesman acknowledged that there were Israeli helicopters carrying out rescue missions near the floating pier, but stressed that the pier, equipment and any personnel supporting humanitarian assistance were not related to the Israeli military rescue operation.

Gaza's temporary pier was damaged by high winds and waves, and some supplies resumed on Saturday (8th) after repairs, but bad weather at sea forced the operation to be suspended again.

Hamas said the US-built temporary terminal had not "made any significant contribution" to easing the humanitarian crisis since it opened, with only a very limited flow of goods entering Gaza.

Hamas issued a statement saying that if the United States administration wants to effectively mitigate the consequences of the humanitarian disaster, it must pressure Israel to open the land border crossing and ensure that the huge backlog of aid supplies on the Egyptian side can enter Gaza.