The temporary dock began operating again Saturday morning but was only used for delivering humanitarian aid, the American army said.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
The U.S. army denied Hamas reports Sunday that its newly repaired pier off the Gaza coast was used in any way to help Israel rescue four hostages the previous day, although the Americans did reportedly provide intelligence assistance.
“The humanitarian pier facility, including its equipment, personnel, and assets were not used in the operation to rescue hostages today in Gaza,” the U.S. Central Command announced on X. “An area south of the facility was used by the Israelis to safely return the hostages to Israel. Any such claim to the contrary is false.”
In video clips shared widely online, an Israeli Blackhawk helicopter, which is manufactured in the U.S., can be seen taking off from the beach with the pier in the background.
The rescue force used two helicopters to deliver Noa Argamani, Almog Meir, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv to Israel from Hamas captivity in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Other helicopters were used in airstrikes to support the elite units while they performed the high-risk, daytime extraction.
In a separate post, CENTCOM said that on Saturday it delivered 492 metric tons of assistance, which “is entirely humanitarian in nature.” It also emphasized that “No U.S. military personnel went ashore in Gaza.”
Two American officials told CBS News Saturday that the U.S. had helped Israel prepare for the rescue by facilitating in the intelligence sphere, although they refused to go into any details.
According to IDF Chief Spokesman Daniel Hagari, the Israeli forces had been “preparing for this rescue operation for weeks.”
Its execution was delayed several times, with the need for better intelligence regarding the hostages’ exact location reportedly among other reasons for putting it off.
After their release, the hostages said they had been moved several times during their exactly eight months of captivity, having been kidnapped from the Nova dance festival during Hamas’ brutal invasion on October 7, in which its forces and other terrorists murdered 1,200 and took a total of 253 hostage.
There are still 120 hostages in Hamas hands, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
The IDF said some 90 Gazans were killed in the operation, which involved a prolonged fire fight with Hamas forces in and around the two civilian apartment buildings in which the four Israelis were being held. The army did not put a figure as yet on the number of noncombatants who may have been killed in the crossfire.
Hamas claimed that about 200 people were killed, but as per their usual statistics, did not differentiate between non-combatant and combatants.
Vice President Kamala Harris was careful to acknowledge the suffering of the Palestinians at a Democratic Party dinner Saturday in Michigan, a swing state with a large Muslim population in which many are angry at the Biden administration’s support of Israel.
“Before I begin, I’ll just say a few words about the morning which I know weighs heavily on all of our hearts,” she said.
“On October seventh, Hamas committed a brutal massacre of 1,200 innocent people and abducted 250 hostages,” she said. “Thankfully four of those hostages were reunited with their families tonight. And we mourn all of the innocent lives that have been lost in Gaza, including those tragically killed today.”
She then reiterated the president’s statement last week that “it is time for this war to end.”