Brian McDonald
washington — Trucks transporting badly needed aid to the Gaza Strip passed through a Newly built temporary USA floating pier in the besieged enclave for the first time on Friday, as Israeli restrictions on border crossings and heavy fighting prevent food and other supplies from reaching people there.
The shipment is the first in an operation that American military authorities predict could see up to 150 trucks per day entering the Gaza Strip while Israel pressure on the southern city of Rafah and yours 7-month offensive against Hamas remains furious.
But the US and aid groups also warn that the dock project is not considered a substitute for land deliveries that could bring all the food, water and fuel needed to Gaza. Before the war, more than 500 trucks entered Gaza on a typical day.
US Central Command handout via Reuters
The success of the operation also remains tenuous due to the risk of militant attack, logistical obstacles and a growing shortage of fuel for trucks due to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed. and took another 250 people hostage. Israel’s offensive has since killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, officials at the Hamas-run Health Ministry say, while hundreds more have been killed in the West Bank.
The US military’s Central Command acknowledged the aid movement in a statement on Friday, saying the first aid arrived in Gaza at 9am. He stated that no American troops landed during the operation.
“This is an ongoing multinational effort to provide additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza through a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature and will involve aid goods donated by several countries and humanitarian organizations,” the command said.
Photos released Thursday by CENTCOM showed aid being hoisted onto a barge in the Israeli port near Ashdod.
Staff Sgt. Malcolm Cohens-Ashley / US Army via AP
Troops finished installing the floating dock on Thursday. Hours later, the Pentagon said that humanitarian aid would soon begin to flow and that no reinforcements were expected in the distribution process, which is being coordinated by the United Nations.
Feed a critical concern
The UN, however, said fuel deliveries via land routes have all but stopped and this will make it extremely difficult to get aid to the people of Gaza.
“We desperately need fuel,” said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq. “No matter how aid arrives, whether by sea or land – without fuel, aid will not reach people.”
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the issue of fuel deliveries comes up in every U.S. conversation with the Israelis. She also said the plan is to start slowly with the sea route and increase truck deliveries over time as they work out kinks in the system.
Aid agencies say they are running out of food in southern Gaza and fuel is running low, while the US Agency for International Development and the World Food Program say famine has gripped northern Gaza.
Israel claims it does not impose limits on the entry of humanitarian aid and blames the UN for delays in the distribution of goods entering Gaza. The UN says fighting, Israeli fire and chaotic security conditions prevented the handover. Israel also fears that Hamas will use the fuel in its fight against Israeli troops.
Ongoing challenges to delivering aid
Under US pressure, Israel in recent weeks opened two crossings to deliver aid to hard-hit northern Gaza and said a series of Hamas attacks on the main crossing, Kerem Shalom, had disrupted the flow of goods. There were also violent protests by Israelis that disrupted aid deliveries.
Israel recently seized the main Rafah border crossing in its pressure against Hamas around that Egyptian border town, raising fears about the safety of civilians while blocking the main aid entry into the Gaza Strip.
President Biden ordered the pier project, which is expected to cost $320 million. Aid shipments will be deposited at an Israeli-built port facility southwest of Gaza City and then distributed to aid groups.
U.S. officials said the initial shipment totaled up to 500 tons of aid. The US coordinated closely with Israel on how to protect ships and personnel working on the beach.
But there are still questions about how aid groups will operate safely in Gaza to distribute food, said Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator of USAID’s Office of Humanitarian Assistance, who is helping with logistics.
“There is a very insecure operating environment” and aid groups are still struggling to gain authorization for their planned movements into Gaza, Korde said.
The fear follows an Israeli attack last month that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers whose trip was coordinated with Israeli authorities and the deaths of other humanitarian personnel during the war.
Pentagon officials have made clear that security conditions will be closely monitored and could lead to the closure of the shipping route, even if only temporarily. Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command, told reporters Thursday that “we are confident in the ability of this security agreement to protect those involved.”
The site has already been the target of mortar fire during its construction and Hamas has threatened to attack any foreign forces that “occupy” the Gaza Strip.
Biden has made it clear that there will be no US forces on the ground in Gaza, so contractors from third countries will drive trucks ashore. Cooper said that “the United Nations will receive the aid and coordinate its distribution in Gaza.”
The World Food Program will be the UN agency responsible for aid, officials said.
Israeli forces are responsible for security on land, but there are also two US Navy warships nearby that can protect US troops and others.
Aid for the sea route is collected and inspected in Cyprus, then loaded onto ships and taken about 200 miles to the large floating dock built by the US. There, the pallets are transferred to trucks that then go to Army boats. As soon as the trucks leave the aid on land, they immediately turn around to return to the boats.
