Report: US indefinitely delayed report on whether Israel violating international law
The US news outlet Politico has reported that the Biden administration has indefinitely delayed the release of a State Department report on whether Israel is violating international law in Gaza. The administration gave no reason for the last-minute change.
“The State Department was supposed to issue the report today,” reads the article, which cites three Senate aides and one House aide. “If it had concluded there was a violation, the U.S. would be expected to stop sending Israel military aid.”
The reporting comes as Israel pushes forward with military operations in Rafah, where the international community and the Biden administration have warned that an Israeli incursion could have disastrous impacts on hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who sought refuge there under Israeli instruction.
US completes construction of aid pier: Pentagon
The US military completed construction of its Gaza aid pier, but weather conditions mean it’s currently unsafe to move the two-part facility into place, the Pentagon says.
“As of today, the construction of the two portions of the JLOTS – the floating pier and the Trident pier – are complete and awaiting final movement offshore,” Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists, using an acronym for Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore – the official name for the pier capability.
Aid groups warn the $320m pier is far less effective than land routes that Israel continues to heavily restrict with truckloads of aid for Gaza waiting to get in.
Very much less effective if it's weather dependent. Ports usually are protected from the weather inland and by long barriers out to sea. If 10 to 20 mph winds are too much already... https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/Gaza+West+Bank+WEXX9001:1:WE
Aid trucks head for al-Awja crossing
The Sinai Organization for Human Rights publishes a video showing a large number of aid trucks on the road heading to Egypt’s al-Awja crossing with Israel south of Rafah. It is known as the Nitzana crossing to Israelis.
Egyptian authorities moved aid trucks from their waiting spots near the Rafah crossing to outer areas with the start of the Israeli military operation in the Philadelphi Corridor.
Looks like Egypt doesn't expect the Rafah crossing to re-open any time soon
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