JERUSALEM (AP)— Three U.S. service members assigned to the floating pier system that is helping bring aid into Gaza received injuries while at sea working on the distribution process, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of Central Command, told reporters on a call Thursday.
One of the service members was on a ship. Cooper did not provide details on the other two, but said two of the troops had already returned to duty, while a third was receiving care at an Israeli hospital.
Ships deliver aid to the floating pier, which is large enough that forklifts can be driven on it to move pallets of cargo around. The pallets are transferred onto trucks, which in turn are loaded onto smaller Army boats. The boats then shuttle the trucks from the pier to a floating causeway, which is anchored to the shore.
No U.S. service members are on the causeway or on the ground in Gaza, Cooper said.
Meanwhile, Israel is bracing for the top United Nations court to rule Friday on whether it must halt its military operations and withdraw from Gaza.
After seven brutal months of war with Israel, Hamas has regrouped in some of the hardest-hit areas in northern Gaza, resuming rocket attacks into nearby Israeli communities. Israel says its troops are operating in Rafah, central Gaza and in Jabaliya in the north.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more. The Israeli army said Friday that it recovered the bodies of three more hostages killed on Oct. 7.
Israel faces global criticism over the mounting death toll and devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza. More than 900,000 Palestinians have been displaced by fighting in the past few weeks alone, and now lack shelter, food, water and other essentials, the U.N. humanitarian agency said Wednesday.
At least 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.