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The UN announcement of the pause on Sunday appears to be the latest setback for the US sea route set up to try to deliver more aid to the starving people of Gaza.
The US Agency for International Development described the pause as a step to allow a security review by the humanitarian community in Gaza.
USAID is working with the World Food Program and their humanitarian partners in Gaza to distribute food and other aid coming from the US-run jetty.
After repairs, it reopened Saturday, bringing 492 metric tons of food and other aid before McCain said her agency was suspending its relief work there.
The UN agency did not provide further details, including how long the pause would last.
WFP spokespeople did not respond to requests for further details.
Asked about the pier operation during an appearance on CBS Face the nation McCain said, “We’re on pause right now.”
“I am concerned for the safety of our people after yesterday’s incident,” McCain said without elaborating.
“We too, two of our warehouses, the warehouse complex were rocketed yesterday.”
“We’ve backed off for now,” she said, and we want “to make sure we’re safe and on safe ground before we start again. But the rest of the country is working. We are doing… everything we can north and south.
USAID said in a statement to The Associated Press that it is working with other U.S. government officials and with humanitarian groups in Gaza “to ensure that aid can safely and effectively resume movement following the completion of the security review that the humanitarian community is undertaking in the moment”.
President Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union address in March that he had ordered the US military to install the temporary pier.
The US project was intended to deliver a limited amount of aid to Gaza, where Israeli restrictions on land crossings and fighting have brought more than one million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people close to the point of starvation.
Saturday’s return to service for the American pier project came the same day Israel launched a heavy air and ground attack that rescued four hostages who were taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack that started the Gaza war.
Rejecting claims on social media following the Israeli military operation, US Central Command said in a tweet on Saturday that neither the pier nor any of its equipment, personnel or other assets were used in the Israeli operation.
Civilians flee in Rafah as Israel continues its offensive
It noted that Israel had used an area south of the pier “for the safe return of hostages.”
A core principle of humanitarian groups is that their work should be independent of the mission of combatants in a conflict zone, so that aid operations and aid workers do not become targets.
USAID said in a separate statement Saturday that no aid workers were involved in the Israeli operation.
Referring to the “rocketing” of WFP warehouses, McCain said on Sunday that one staff member was injured but “everyone else is fine”.
“This is why a ceasefire is necessary. That’s why we have to stop this,” so that aid from her program and other organizations can flow into Gaza “at scale.”
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