The US military has sent a ship carrying equipment to build a temporary dock off the coast of Gaza to deliver humanitarian supplies by sea amid growing numbers of starving Palestinians and growing famine across as Israel obstructs aid operations.
The ship, Gen. Frank S. Besson, left a Virginia base “less than 36 hours after President Biden announced that the United States would provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza by sea,” the military's Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday. .
The logistics support ship “carries the first equipment to establish a temporary dock to deliver vital humanitarian supplies,” he said.
On 9 March 2024, US Army Vessel (USAV) General Frank S. Besson (LSV-1), 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command , XVIII Airborne Corps, departed Joint Base Langley-Eustis en route to the Eastern Mediterranean in 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 was ordering the military to lead an emergency mission to establish a dock off Gaza's Mediterranean coast to receive ships carrying food, water, medicines and temporary shelters.
Biden's announcement came after the United Nations warned of widespread famine among Gaza's 2.3 million people, five months after Israel launched its offensive in the Strip in response to a Hamas-led attack.
Gaza has no port infrastructure. Initially, the United States plans to use Cyprus, which has offered a process to inspect the shipment that would include Israeli officials, eliminating the need for security checks in Gaza.
Construction of the pier and the causeway connecting it to land will take up to 60 days and require about 1,000 U.S. troops, Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder said Friday. The soldiers will remain on the high seas.
“If the United States had been serious, it would have pressured Israel to open the land crossings and allow aid and relief in, in addition to stopping the attack. We have not heard Biden call for an end to the war or even a ceasefire,” Mohammed al-Masri of the Palestinian Center for Research and Strategic Studies told Al Jazeera.
“The important thing for the Palestinians is that Biden puts pressure on Israel, because it is a partner in the ongoing war. “What prompted him to establish this port is his precarious standing among American voters and opinion polls showing he is 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 that the European Union hopes to open on Sunday.
Sigrid Kaag, the UN's senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, has said air and sea deliveries will not make up for the shortage of ground supply routes.
Existing land crossings are also faster, safer and cheaper than the sea route or air dropping aid.
Aid groups estimate that at least 1,300 trucks of humanitarian aid supplies are needed to enter Gaza each day.
Israel has blamed the hunger crisis on U.N. agencies, saying they are not distributing supplies piling up at Gaza border crossings. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the largest UN agency in Gaza, says Israel restricts goods and imposes cumbersome inspections that delay entry.
The executive director of the US branch of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Avril Benoit, said the US plan is a “blatant distraction from the real problem: Israel's indiscriminate and disproportionate military campaign and punitive siege.”
Al-Masri said many questions remain about the establishment of the port.
“If Israel invades Rafah and the border crossing is closed, will this port become an exit point for Palestinians? Who will provide security for the humanitarian aid being sent to the port and who will do the actual distribution? “Who will manage this huge aid operation?” she asked.
Al-Masri noted that Israeli forces previously attacked police in Gaza as they attempted to secure aid distribution. “And they won't allow the Palestinian Authority to have a role, so who will it be?”
Since 1967, Israel has exercised complete control of Gaza's coast and territorial waters, preventing ships from reaching the strip.
Since 2007, Israel has closed almost all Gaza border crossings and its port has been under Israeli naval blockade, making it the only Mediterranean seaport closed to shipping.
