JERUSALEM (AP) — A U.S. Navy ship and several army ships join a U.S.-led effort to bring more aid to Jerusalem. besieged Gaza Strip They are building a floating platform for operations off the enclave's coast, which the Pentagon announced Monday will cost at least $320 million.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters that the cost is a rough estimate of the project and includes transportation of equipment and pier sections from the U.S. to the Gaza coast, as well as construction and aid delivery. Told.
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press on Monday show the USNS Roy P. Benavidez about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from a coastal port where the Israeli military is building a base of operations for the project. USAV Gen. Frank S. Besson Jr., an Army logistics ship, and several other Army boats will be joining the Benavidez to build what the military calls a joint land-based logistics (JLOTS) system.
Satellite images taken by Planet Labs PBC on Sunday showed debris from the pier floating in the Mediterranean Sea along the Benavides River. The vessel's dimensions are consistent with known characteristics of the Benavidez, a Bob Hope-class vehicle cargo ship operated by Military Sealift Command.
U.S. military officials confirmed late last week that construction on the Benavidez had begun and that the platform was far enough offshore to ensure the safety of the troops building it. Mr Singh said on Monday that construction of the causeway will begin next, after which it will be anchored to the shore.
U.S. and Israeli officials have said they hope to get the floating pier in place and connect the causeway to the coast, with work starting by early May. The cost of the surgery was first reported by Reuters.
Under the US military's plan, the aid would be loaded onto a Cypriot merchant ship and sailed to a floating platform being built off the coast of Gaza. The pallets are loaded onto a truck, which is then loaded onto a small boat and driven to a floating metal two-lane causeway. A 550-meter (1,800-foot) causeway will be installed on the coast by the Israel Defense Forces.
U.S. military officials said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has worked with the Israel Defense Forces Corps of Engineers in recent weeks to practice installing embankments and conduct training exercises on Israeli beaches just up the coast.
The new port is located just southwest of Gaza City, just north of a road built by Israeli forces during the war that bisects Gaza. Current battle with Hamas. The area was the most populous area in the region before the Israeli ground offensive began and more than a million people moved south toward the city of Rafah on the Egyptian border.
Israeli military positions, currently located on either side of the port, were originally built using the rubble of buildings demolished by Israel as part of an effort led by World Central Kitchen.That effort was subsequently discontinued 7 World Central Kitchen aid workers killed in Israeli airstrike On April 1, they were traveling in clearly marked vehicles on an Israeli-sanctioned delivery mission. The organization says it is resuming operations in Gaza.
Aid to Gaza has been delayed, with truck backup awaiting Israeli inspections. The United States and other countries are also using airlift to send food to Gaza. U.S. military officials said sea deliveries will initially total about 90 trucks per day, but could soon increase to about 150 trucks per day.
Aid groups say hundreds of these trucks are needed each day to enter Gaza.
Following Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, Israel cut off or severely restricted the flow of food, water, medicine, electricity and other aid into the Gaza Strip. did.under Pressure from the United States and elsewhereIsrael insists the situation is improving, but United Nations agencies say more aid needs to come in.
Gaza, more than twice the size of Washington City and home to 2.3 million people, is on the brink of famine. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the fighting began, according to local health officials.
On Sunday, Israeli military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said aid to Gaza would continue to increase.
“This temporary jetty will provide a ship-to-shore logistics system and further increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” he said in a statement.
However, Hamas political officials Khalil al-Haya told The Associated Press. The group labeled Israeli or other countries' troops stationed near the pier to protect it as an “occupation force and invasion” and said the extremist group would resist it.
A mortar attack targeted port facilities on Wednesday, but no one was injured.
___ Associated Press writers Tara Kopp and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.
