US Military Installs Gaza Aid Pier and Sends First Load of Humanitarian Supplies Through

First shipment of aid sent to Gaza as US military installs new pier

May 17, 2024 TruthUSA

Trucks carrying humanitarian assistance began moving ashore through the pier system at around 9 a.m. local time on Friday morning, CENTCOM said.

The U.S. military has announced that U.S. forces have completed the installation of a makeshift pier for delivering humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip, with aid now flowing into the territory.

President Joe Biden initially directed the U.S. military to construct the pier in March to facilitate increased deliveries of food and humanitarian supplies by sea. Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh revealed at a press briefing on Thursday that U.S. military engineers, in collaboration with Israeli military counterparts, had successfully anchored the temporary pier system to the beach in Gaza.

Singh confirmed that the pier was installed successfully without the need for U.S. troops on the ground in the embattled territory. She informed reporters at the briefing that aid distribution through the pier system would commence “as soon as the Commander feels that we are ready to go.”

Hours after the Pentagon press briefing, CENTCOM announced in a press statement that “trucks carrying humanitarian assistance began moving ashore” through the pier system at around 9 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

“This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature, and will involve aid commodities donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organizations,” CENTCOM added.

In an April 25 press call, U.S. military officials estimated the temporary humanitarian aid pier would reach initial operational capacity sometime in “early May.” The effort to build and install the pier was delayed last week over reports of poor weather.

US Expanding Humanitarian Delivery Capacity Amid Famine Concerns

The completion of this humanitarian aid pier comes after more than seven months of the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip, with the Israeli government aiming to eliminate the designated terrorist group and free hostages taken by Hamas gunmen and other terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.

The ongoing conflict has disrupted access to food, water, and other humanitarian supplies, and severely affected civilian infrastructure in the territory. Samantha Power, Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), testified at an April 10 House hearing that nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip “is living under the threat of famine” and that famine conditions have likely already begun in certain areas of the Gaza Strip.

During the April 10 hearing, Ms. Power mentioned that around 500 commercial and humanitarian trucks were entering the Gaza Strip daily before Oct. 7. This flow of supply trucks decreased after the conflict began. While there has been some recovery in the number of trucks reaching the Gaza Strip, Ms. Power emphasized that “we need to go way beyond that” to meet the humanitarian needs in the territory.

“The destruction of greenery, markets, arable land, and the limited number of trucks entering over several months means we have a significant amount of catching up to do,” Ms. Power stated during her testimony on April 10.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has reported that around 5,671 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip in April, averaging about 189 trucks per day. UNRWA estimates that another 1,296 trucks arrived in the Gaza Strip between May 1 and May 15; an average of approximately 89 trucks daily.

The Pentagon projects that the new humanitarian aid pier can accommodate an additional 90 truckloads of humanitarian aid daily at its initial capacity. Once fully operational, the Pentagon anticipates this number will increase to about 150 truckloads, equating to roughly 2,000,000 meals per day.

The U.S. military has also facilitated additional aid deliveries through airdropped packages.

“The number of trucks from the pier won’t match what can come from the land crossings,” Singh stated on Thursday. “Therefore, we need to see those land routes open. The quickest method to deliver aid to the north or other areas in Gaza will be through those land routes. This pier is intended to complement those efforts.”

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