WASHINGTON (AP) — Humanitarian aid will soon begin flowing to the Gaza Strip via a new ship anchored off the coast overnight, the Pentagon said Thursday, and will begin reaching those in need immediately.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters that the U.S. believes there will be no backups in the aid delivery, which is being coordinated by the United Nations.
However, the UN said all fuel imports had been halted, making it more difficult to deliver aid to more than a million Palestinians in critical need of food and other supplies after seven months of fierce fighting between Israel and Hamas.
“We desperately need fuel,” said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq. “It doesn’t matter how the aid comes, whether it’s by sea or by land, without fuel, people can’t get help.”
Singh said the issue of fuel supply comes up in all conversations with the Israelis.
The U.S. military completed installation of a flotation vessel in the Gaza Strip early Thursday, and officials made final checks before trucks began driving ashore to deliver aid plates.
The pier project is expected to cost $320 millionwas Ordered two months ago US President Joe Biden halts Israeli border crossings and heavy fighting to help starving Palestinians Food and other products from its preparation Inside Gaza.
full of Logistical, meteorological and security challengesThe PIER program is not intended as an alternative to much cheaper supplies by land, which aid agencies say is more sustainable.
The boats will be docked at a port facility built by the Israelis southwest of Gaza City. Distributed by support groups.
U.S. officials said Thursday that 500 tons of food would begin arriving ashore in Gaza in a few days, and that the U.S. was coordinating closely with Israel on how to protect ships and crews working ashore.
But questions remain about how aid groups can safely distribute food to those in need in Gaza, said Sonali Korte, assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, which helps with logistics.
“There is a very insecure operating environment” and aid groups are still struggling to get permission for their planned operations in Gaza, Korte said. Those talks with the Israeli military “need to go to a place where humanitarian aid workers feel safe and secure. I don’t think we’re there yet.
Clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern city Rafa In addition, UN officials have reported that about 700,000 people have been displaced due to Israel’s resumption of hostilities in some parts of northern Gaza. Israel recently captured the key Rafah border crossing in its push against Hamas.
Pentagon officials said the fighting did not pose a threat to the new coastal aid delivery area, but they clarified that security conditions would be closely monitored and could prompt a temporary shutdown of the sea route.
More work needs to be done with the Israeli military to keep humanitarian aid workers safe in Gaza, Sonali Korte says at a US Agency for International Development teleconference.
Already, the site has been targeted with mortar shells during its construction, and Hamas has threatened to target any foreign forces that “occupy” the Gaza Strip.
“The safety of participating U.S. forces is paramount. And over the past several weeks, the United States and Israel have developed a coordinated security plan to protect all personnel,” said Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of U.S. Army Central Command. “We are confident in the ability of this security arrangement to protect those involved.”
US troops docked on the ship Thursday morning, and the Central Command said none of its forces had entered the Gaza Strip and had not during the ship’s operations. It said trucks with aid would move ashore in the coming days and “the United Nations will receive aid and coordinate deliveries to Gaza”.
The World Food Program handles this aid through the UN. Officials said that the company will be.
Israeli forces are responsible for guarding the shore, but two US Navy warships, the USS Arleigh Burke and the USS Paul Ignatius, are also stationed near the area. Both are destroyers with a wide range of weapons and capabilities to protect US troops overseas and allies on the coast.
British logistics ship RFA Cardigan Bay will also provide support, Cooper said.
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani confirmed the ship had been docked and that Israeli engineering units had leveled around the area and built roads for trucks.
“We have been working on this project (with the US military) for months in full cooperation, facilitating it and supporting it in any way we can,” Shoshani said. “It’s a priority in our process.”
The UN, US and international aid groups say Israel is allowing only a fraction of the normal pre-war supply of food and other supplies to Gaza since Hamas attacks on Israel started the war in October. Aid agencies say food is running out and fuel is running low in southern Gaza, while famine has hit northern Gaza, according to USAID and the World Food Program.
Israel says there are no limits on humanitarian aid and has blamed the UN for delays in delivering supplies into Gaza. The UN says fighting, Israeli fire and chaotic security conditions are hampering the delivery. Under pressure from the United States, Israel has opened a pair of crossings to deliver aid to hard-hit northern Gaza in recent weeks, saying a series of attacks by Hamas on the main crossing of Kerem Shalom had disrupted the flow of goods.
The first cargo ship loaded with food left Cyprus last week and transferred the cargo to the US military ship Roy P. Benavidez off the coast of Gaza.
The installation of the floating vessel several miles (kilometers) from the coast and a runway, now anchored off the coast, was delayed by nearly two weeks due to bad weather, which made the conditions extremely dangerous.
Military leaders have said aid will begin slowly to ensure the system works. They will start with around 90 truckloads per day via sea route and that number will soon grow to around 150 per day. But aid agencies say this is not enough to avert famine in Gaza and must be part of a broader Israeli effort to open land routes.
Oxfam’s co-director Scott Paul said the US-built shipping and sea route is “a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist” because land routes can bring all the aid needed if Israeli authorities allow it. humanitarian organization.
Under the new sea route, humanitarian aid is dropped off in Cyprus, where it will undergo inspection and security checks at the port of Larnaca. It is then loaded onto ships and transported about 200 miles (320 kilometers) to a large floating barge built by the US military off the coast of Gaza.
There, the pallets are transferred to trucks, loaded onto small military barges, and then sent several miles (kilometers) to a land bridge anchored along the coast. Existing trucks Operated by personnel from another countryDescending the causeway into a safe area on land, they leave the aid and immediately turn back to the boats.
Aid teams will collect supplies for distribution ashore.
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Associated Press writers John Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Julia Frankel in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed to this report.
