US to Begin Construction of Pier in Gaza to Facilitate Aid Delivery, Pentagon Announces

The United States will soon begin construction of a pier in Gaza to facilitate the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid to the civilian population, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday, April 24, 2024. The facility will consist of an offshore platform for transferring aid from larger to smaller vessels, and a pier to bring the aid ashore.

The plans were first announced by US President Joe Biden in early March, as Israel had been holding up deliveries of assistance by ground. The US will not have 'boots on the ground' in Gaza, but American troops will come close to the territory as they construct the pier, with Israeli forces providing security.

The Pentagon says all the necessary vessels are already in the Mediterranean region and prepared to commence the project 'very soon'. The US has dispatched several Army and Navy ships from the East Coast to Gaza, which are still making their way across the Atlantic. The ships are carrying modules and equipment to build a trident causeway about 800 by 1200 feet, which will be anchored at the beach in Gaza to unload humanitarian aid.

Why this matters: The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has left the civilian population in desperate need of humanitarian assistance to survive. The construction of the pier is a vital step in facilitating the delivery of aid, including up to 2 million meals per day, to the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

The project is expected to be completed by mid-April, but experts warn that Gazans may already be in the grips of famine by then. The conflict has killed over 34,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

There are concerns about a potential major Israeli military operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, with humanitarian workers expressing doubts about the feasibility of evacuating civilians in such a scenario due to the high level of destruction and lack of resources in the territory. Aid workers have not been informed of any evacuation plans and say the circumstances in Gaza make a large-scale evacuation extremely challenging.

The US Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into Northern Gaza on April 23, 2024, to provide essential relief to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict. The operation included 30,016 Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) dropped by four U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft, as well as more than 6,000 pounds of Jordanian food supplies. To date, the U.S. has dropped nearly 1,041

Key Takeaways

• US to build pier in Gaza to facilitate humanitarian aid delivery.
• Pier construction to be completed by mid-April, but famine risk high.
• Conflict has killed over 34,000 in Gaza, mostly women and children.
• US and Jordan conducted humanitarian airdrop to provide relief in Gaza.
• Experts doubt feasibility of large-scale civilian evacuation in Gaza.