The pier constructed by the US military was operational for only about a week before it was blown apart in high winds and heavy seas on May 25. A damaged section has been reconnected to the beach in Gaza after being repaired at an Israeli port.
About 492 metric tons of humanitarian aid was delivered to Gaza through the pier on Saturday, US Central Command said in a statement, reiterating that no US military personnel went ashore.
The US Agency for International Development works with the UN World Food Program and their humanitarian partners in Gaza to distribute food and other aid coming from the US-operated pier.
The deliveries came the same day that Israel mounted a heavy air and ground assault that rescued four hostages, who'd been taken by Hamas during the October 7 attack that launched the war in Gaza. At least 210 Palestinians, including children, were killed, a Gaza health official said.
Pushing back against social media claims, US Central Command said in a tweet that neither the pier nor any of its equipment, personnel or other assets were used in the Israeli operation. It noted that Israel used an area south of the pier "to safely return hostages."
"The temporary pier on the coast of Gaza was put in place for one purpose only, to help move additional, urgently needed lifesaving assistance into Gaza," the US military said.
USAID said in a separate statement that no humanitarian workers were involved in the Israeli operation.
"Humanitarian aid workers in Gaza are operating in extremely difficult and insecure conditions and must be protected," the agency said by email. "Aid workers operate under the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence."
The movement of aid through the pier brings back one way to get desperately needed food and other emergency supplies to Palestinians trapped by the eight-month-old Israel-Hamas war. Israeli restrictions on land crossings, and fighting, have greatly limited the flow of food and other vital supplies into the territory.
Early efforts to get aid from the pier into the Gaza Strip also were disrupted as crowds overran a convoy of trucks that aid agencies were using to transport the food, stripping the cargo from many of them before they could reach a UN warehouse. Officials responded by altering the travel routes, and aid began reaching those in need.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, says lessons learned from that initial week of operations made him confident greater amounts of aid could be delivered now.
He said the goal was to get more than 450,000 kg of food and other supplies moving through the pier into Gaza every two days.
Relief agencies have pressed Israel to reopen land routes that could bring in all the needed aid. Israel says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter through a southern checkpoint and pointed the finger at the UN for not distributing aid. The UN says it is often unable to retrieve the aid because of the security situation.
UN agencies have warned that over 1 million Palestinians in Gaza could experience the highest level of starvation by the middle of next month if hostilities continue.
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