US military says Gaza pier project completed
The US military finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip on Thursday and declared their readiness to begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
US troops anchored the pier at 7:40 a.m. local time Thursday, the military's Central Command (US CENTCOM) said in a statement, which stressed that none of its forces entered the Gaza Strip.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid are expected to begin moving ashore in the coming days.
At the end of April, the US military had begun construction of a sea pier off the coast of the Gaza Strip, as had been previously reported.
The maritime route is designed to bolster the amount of aid getting into the Gaza Strip amid more than seven months of intense fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas.
But the route is not considered a substitute for far cheaper land-based deliveries that aid agencies say are much more sustainable.
The boatloads of aid will be deposited at a port facility southwest of Gaza City and then distributed by aid groups.
“The United Nations will receive the aid and coordinate its distribution into Gaza”, the US CENTCOM statement reads. But it isn’t immediately clear which UN agency will be involved.
US troops will not set foot in Gaza, the US insisted previously, though they acknowledge the danger of operating near the war zone.
Pentagon officials said the fighting in Gaza wasn’t threatening the new shoreline aid distribution area, but they have made it clear that security conditions will be monitored closely and could prompt a shutdown of the maritime route, even just temporarily.
Already, the site has been targeted by mortar fire during its construction and Hamas has threatened to target any foreign forces who occupy the Gaza Strip.
“The protection of US forces participating is a top priority. And as such, in the last several weeks, the United States and Israel have developed an integrated security plan to protect all the personnel who are working," said Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, a deputy commander at the US military's Central Command.
As The Times of Israel reports, Israeli forces will be in charge of security on the shore, but there are also two US Navy warships near the area in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the USS Arleigh Burke and the USS Paul Ignatius.