The US military begins construction of a pier near Gaza to deliver aid

(WASHINGTON) – The U.S. military has started construction of the long-awaited port and causeway off the coast of Gaza that will create a maritime corridor to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Pentagon said Thursday.

“I can confirm that U.S. military vessels, including the USNS Benavidez, have begun construction of the first phases of the temporary pier and causeway at sea,” Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, told reporters , referring to the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, floating pier delivery system.

“We are aware of the strong interest in this important effort and will provide much more information in the very near future as we work with the international community to provide rapid assistance to the people of Gaza,” he added.

The Pentagon has estimated that the pier, when operational, would complement existing land crossings for Gaza aid and could deliver as many as two million meals a day to Gaza.

Satellite images taken by Planet Lab show construction work that has begun in the land area where the causeway will be moored so that trucks full of aid can access Gaza.

Maritime traffic websites show the USNS Roy Benavidez operating off the coast of Gaza, where it has begun construction of the floating platform that will offload supplies from civilian cargo ships. The additional ships that will support the floating pier are en route to Gaza from Crete, Greece, where they were docked after a transatlantic voyage to the eastern Mediterranean.

A senior US military official briefing reporters on Thursday said construction of the JLOTS landing pad began on Thursday several kilometers off the Gaza coast.

“We are on track to begin delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza from the sea in early May,” the official said, adding that once operational, the JLOTS pier could handle about 90 trucks per day and then quickly can be expanded to 150, trucks worth of humanitarian aid.

“This additional supply from the sea represents a significant increase in life-saving assistance,” the official said.

The plan is that humanitarian aid from aid agencies will eventually make its way to the JLOTS platform and floating causeway, after first being screened, palletized and prepared for delivery in Cyprus, 200 miles from Gaza.

The senior US military official explained that the aid would then be unloaded onto a floating platform miles offshore. Subsequently, smaller vessels will carry five trucks each that will be unloaded onto the floating embankment or pier that will be anchored to the shore, the official said.

Those trucks will deliver their cargo to a secured area for future distribution and continually repeat that process in a regular manner back and forth to the floating platform, the official said.

The truck drivers will not be U.S. military personnel or U.S. contractors, the official said, but from an unspecified country who are not Americans and who will have their own security.

Hundreds of American soldiers and sailors who will build and operate JLOTS will live and sleep aboard the British Navy ship Cardigan Bay, which will be located miles offshore, the official said.

The Biden administration has repeatedly said there will be no American “boots on the ground,” but that restriction does not apply to other personnel supporting the JLOTS mission who will work in Israel.

With no U.S. troops on the ground to anchor the floating platform on the beach in Gaza, a U.S. Army engineering unit worked with a similar IDF unit to train them on how to handle it on “day one.” had to anchor on the beach. That training took place on an Israeli beach “just off the coast,” the senior military official said.

In addition, U.S. military personnel will work side by side with Israeli Army personnel in a coordination cell based at Hatzor Air Base in Ashdod, Israel, led by a three-star U.S. general.

Another coordination cell, led by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has been established in Cyprus to organize the logistics of the flow of aid that will be delivered to Gaza via the maritime corridor.

Earlier on Thursday, a mortar attack in the area where the pier will be located near Gaza City raised concerns about the security of the JLOTS mission, which U.S. officials have long acknowledged will be carried out by the Israeli military. to be taken care of.

“It’s also important to emphasize that this happened before U.S. forces started moving anything,” Ryder said, noting that “there is no U.S. equipment per se in this marshalling yard” that will be the future location for distributing aid that is unloaded via JLOTS. .

The senior military official told reporters that the mortar attack was not related to the JLOTS mission and that security around the affected location will be “much more robust” when operational.

“Force protection is our first priority,” said the senior US military official, explaining that Israel has deployed a brigade of thousands of soldiers, plus Israeli naval ships and aircraft flying above, which will support US forces offshore, landing and distribution to protect. centers on shore.

The official said the U.S. military believes security at the chosen location for the floating platform is “sufficient to support the execution of the mission,” although any final decision will be left to the commander of U.S. Central Command.

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