US military starts pier construction off Gaza

[Donkees]

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has started constructing a maritime pier that will allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, the Pentagon said on Friday, a move that had been expected, with the jetty set to become operational by early May.

"I can confirm that U.S. military vessels, to include the USNS Benavidez, have begun to construct the initial stages of the temporary pier and causeway at sea," Pentagon spokesperson Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters.

The U.N. has warned Gaza faces famine and has complained of "overwhelming obstacles" in getting in aid and distributing it around the enclave. Aid agencies and the Biden administration have implored Israel to ease access for relief supplies into Gaza and to give their convoys safe passage inside the territory.

Ryder said the Pentagon was tracking some type of mortar attack in Gaza that caused minimal damage in the marshalling area for the pier. But he added that U.S. forces had not started moving anything to that area yet and there were no U.S. forces on the ground.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-military-starts-pier-construction-off-gaza-2024-04-25/

[AloeVera]

1. Absurd.

All this simply because no amount of "imploring" by Western nations and aid agencies will get Netanyahu to follow international law and do the right thing. Something's very wrong with this picture.

[Donkees]

2. I still think it's a preliminary step to eventually ending Gaza's sea blockade ...

If the entire population of Rafah is going to be evacuated towards Gaza City as planned, then the Pier will be the main and closest point of humanitarian aid entry. The Rafah aid crossing will probably be shut.

Reply to AloeVera (Reply #2)
Sun Apr 7, 2024, 12:08 PM
The maritime corridor and floating pier may be a preliminary step towards finally ending Gaza's sea blockade when Netanyahu is ousted. There may be hospital ships in Gaza's territorial waters in the near future, and peace-keeper access when that stage of negotiations is reached.

[AloeVera]

3. You are thinking far ahead.

All of that would really help of course. Hospital ships will surely be needed as medical care now is nonexistent. But the distribution is still the issue and of course it has to be supplemented by truck convoys via the crossings.

I wish there were peacekeepers there now.

I thought the planned evacuation though is to Khan Younis in Central Gaza. Tents are being erected there. Is that close to the pier?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.timesofisrael.com/satellite-images-show-tent-compound-construction-in-south-gaza-ahead-of-possible-rafah-op/amp/

[Donkees]

7. Besides Khan Younis, there are other areas included in the evacuation zones.

The Pier is south of Gaza City, divided into three zones as a distribution hub. The Planet Labs satellite image from last week shows part of the port construction completed near Gaza City.

[AloeVera]

4. "A smokescreen to enable the Israelis to invade Rafah". Pretty disturbing.

The justification presented for the pier was to be able to deliver food without having to use the IDF-run land crossings and especially deliver to the starving north. It was to be placed in the north, not centrally. However, per this article in The Guardian, Israeli authorities were able to influence the where the dock should be placed. This means that food aid would still have to pass through an IDF checkpoint that has been a choke-point stopping aid reaching the north.

Some UN and other humanitarian officials fear that the aid will be diverted south to camps set up for the more than 1 million people now sheltering in Rafah. The IDF wants them to move out so that it can conduct an offensive against Hamas units in Gaza’s southernmost city.

Such an offensive would inevitably mean the temporary closure of Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings in southern Gaza, so the US-made floating dock would serve as a substitute, while at the same time diverting pressure on Israel to open northern crossing points to substantial aid traffic.

“One of the key arguments for having a dock was to put it further north so that suppliers could come in more directly to the north,” a UN official said, adding that what was actually being proposed looked more like a “smokescreen to enable the Israelis to invade Rafah”.

How is this allowed to continue??

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/24/officials-voice-concern-over-us-plans-for-gaza-aid-pier

[maxsolomon]

6. Aid has been coming in at significantly increased rates.

10 day old report: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/aid-gaza-has-increased-dramatically-white-houses-kirby-says-2024-04-15/

I'm sure it's not enough, hence this pier (Gaza's only current port is a sad joke) but this is from Reuters, not the NYT, so maybe there's some truth there?

[Beastly Boy]

5. ...and it promptly gets attacked by the Hamas militants as

Israeli and UN officials tour the pier.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/idf-says-mortar-fired-at-under-construction-gaza-aid-pier-as-un-officials-toured-site/ar-AA1nEZlG