8 Palestinians Killed in 'Shocking' West Bank Crash

Members of Israeli border police patrol near the scene of a security incident at an Israeli military base near Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 7, 2021. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta
Members of Israeli border police patrol near the scene of a security incident at an Israeli military base near Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 7, 2021. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta
TT

8 Palestinians Killed in 'Shocking' West Bank Crash

Members of Israeli border police patrol near the scene of a security incident at an Israeli military base near Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 7, 2021. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta
Members of Israeli border police patrol near the scene of a security incident at an Israeli military base near Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 7, 2021. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

Eight Palestinians died on Thursday when the van they rode in collided with a cement truck in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian official media said.

The two vehicles slammed into each other at a junction on Route 90, which runs up the Jordan Valley and is under Israeli security control near the northern West Bank village of Fasayil, according to the Wafa news agency.

A medic with the Magen David Adom Israeli rescue services said in a statement that the scene at the crash site was "shocking".

"We saw a truck and a private vehicle crushed on the side of the road," he said.

The victims were not officially identified but local news outlets reported they were teenagers between 14 and 17 years old.

AFP was not able to verify this.

Wafa said that Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas declared a day of mourning to be observed on Friday across the Palestinian territories in honor of the victims.

Medics declared seven people dead at the scene, and Wafa later reported an additional victim.

Three injured people were evacuated to Israeli hospitals via helicopter.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz issued a note of sympathy published in Arabic and Hebrew.

"I would like to convey my heartfelt condolences to the Palestinian families who lost eight of their loved ones today" in the crash, he said.

Neighboring Jordan also expressed condolences.

Palestinian police told AFP that the victims were workers from the town of Aqraba, near Nablus.



Officials: US Will Remove Gaza Aid Pier and May Not Put it Back

A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
TT

Officials: US Will Remove Gaza Aid Pier and May Not Put it Back

A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

The pier built by the US military to bring aid to Gaza has been removed due to weather to protect it, and the US is considering not re-installing it unless the aid begins flowing out into the population again, several US officials said Friday.

While the military has helped deliver desperately needed food through the pier, the vast majority of it is still sitting in the adjacent storage yard because of the difficulty that agencies have had moving it to areas in Gaza where it is most needed, and that storage area is almost full.

The pier has been used to get more than 19.4 million pounds, or 8.6 million kilograms, of food into Gaza but has faced multiple setbacks. Rough seas damaged the pier just days into its initial operations, forcing the military to remove it temporarily for repairs and then reinstall it.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said the military could reinstall the pier once the bad weather passes in the coming days, but the final decision on whether to reinstall it hasn’t been made.

Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, acknowledged that she doesn't know when the pier will be reinstalled.

She also said Friday that there is a need for more aid to come into Cyprus and be transported to the pier. She noted that the secure area onshore is “pretty close to full,” but that the intention is still to get aid into Gaza by all means necessary. She said the US is having discussions with the aid agencies about the distribution of the food.

The big challenge has been that humanitarian convoys have stopped carrying the aid from the pier’s storage area further into Gaza, to get it into civilian hands, because they have come under attack.

The UN, which has the widest reach in delivering aid to starving Palestinians, on June 9 paused the distribution of food and other emergency supplies that had arrived through the pier. The pause came after the Israeli military used an area near the pier to fly out rescued hostages after a raid that killed more than 270 Palestinians, prompting a UN security review over concerns that aid workers’ safety and neutrality may have compromised.