The United Nations has sent a ship with supplies to build a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver humanitarian supplies by sea amid a growing number of Palestinians facing hunger and famine as Israel blocks relief efforts. does
The plane, Gen. Frank S. Beeson, left a base in Virginia “less than 36 hours after President Biden announced that the United States would provide humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea,” the military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday.
The logistics support ship is “taking the first cargo to establish a temporary pier for the delivery of critical humanitarian supplies”, it said.
On 9 March 2024, the US Army Vessel (USAV) General Frank S. Beeson (LSV-1) of the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, XVIII Airborne Corps, departed for Joint Base Langley-Eustis. Eastern Mediterranean less than 36 hours… pic.twitter.com/X70uttuY9J
— US Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 10, 2024
US President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address on Thursday that he is directing the military to lead an emergency mission to establish a pier on the Mediterranean coast of Gaza to receive ships with food, water, medicine. and temporary shelters.
Biden’s announcement came five months after the United Nations warned of a severe famine among Gaza’s 2.3 million people, five months after Israel launched its offensive in the Strip in response to a Hamas-led offensive.
Gaza has no port infrastructure. The U.S. initially plans to use Cyprus, which has introduced a process to screen cargo that will contain Israeli personnel, eliminating the need for security checks in Gaza.
Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder said on Friday that construction of the pier and causeway connecting it to land would take 60 days and require about 1,000 US troops. The army will remain offshore.
“If the US was serious, it would pressure Israel to open land crossings and allow aid and assistance to stop the invasion. We haven’t heard Biden stop the war or call for a ceasefire,” Mohammed al-Masri, head of the Palestinian Center for Research and Strategic Studies, told Al Jazeera.
“What is important for the Palestinians is that Biden puts pressure on Israel, because it is a partner in the ongoing war.” What has pushed him to establish the port is his precarious position among American voters and polls show him on shaky ground with minorities,” he added.
Separately, a ship carrying 200 tons of humanitarian aid for Gaza was preparing to leave Cyprus along a maritime corridor the European Union hopes will be open by Sunday.
Sigrid Kaag, the UN’s senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, said air and sea deliveries would not make up for the lack of supply routes on the ground.
Current land crossings are also faster, safer and more economical than either sea or air crossings.
Aid groups estimate that at least 1,300 truckloads of humanitarian aid need to enter Gaza every day.
Israel has blamed UN agencies for the hunger crisis, saying they are failing to distribute supplies scattered across Gaza’s borders. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the largest UN agency in Gaza, says Israel restricts goods and imposes burdensome inspections that slow entry.
Avril Benoit, executive director of the US arm of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said the US plan is “a clear distraction from the real issue: punishing Israel’s arbitrary and disproportionate military campaign and siege”.
Al-Masri said that many questions remain about the establishment of the port.
“If Israel attacks Rafah and closes the border crossing, will this port become an exit route for Palestinians?” Who will provide security for the humanitarian aid sent to the port and who will do the actual distribution? Who will manage this massive relief operation? he asked.
Al-Masri noted that Israeli forces previously attacked police in Gaza when they tried to secure aid distribution. “And they won’t allow the Palestinian Authority to play a role, so who will it be?”
Since 1967, Israel has exercised full control over Gaza’s coastline and territorial waters, preventing ships from accessing the Strip.
Since 2007, Israel has closed almost all of Gaza’s borders, and its port is under an Israeli naval blockade, making it the only port in the Mediterranean closed to shipping.
