Trucks carrying much-needed aid to the Gaza Strip crossed a newly constructed US dock for the first time on Friday and entered the Palestinian enclave, after seven months of intense fighting in the war between Israel and Hamas.
The shipment is the first in an operation that U.S. military officials say could reach 150 trucks a day as Israel attacks the southern city of Rafah in its campaign against Hamas. At the White House, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said “more than 300 pallets” of aid were part of the initial delivery and had been given to the United Nations, which was preparing distribution.
The Israel Defense Forces and Ministry of Defense also released a statement confirming that more than 300 pallets of supplies had been transferred via the pier.
Kirby said the United States had received indications that “some of this aid was already going to Gaza.”
But the United States, the United Nations and humanitarian organizations warn that the floating jetty project is no substitute for land deliveries that could bring all the food, water and fuel needed to Gaza. Before the war, more than 500 trucks entered Palestinian territory every day.
The success of the operation also remains precarious due to the risk of terrorist attacks, logistical obstacles and a growing shortage of fuel for aid trucks due to Israeli restrictions since the October 7 Hamas massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the Israeli border by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and taking 252 hostages, mostly civilians, most amid acts of brutality and assault sexual.
Image provided by U.S. Central Command shows U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), U.S. Navy Sailors assigned to the 1st Amphibious Construction Battalion and Israel Defense Forces positioning the pier Trident on the coast of the Gaza Strip, May 16, 2024. (U.S. Central Command via AP)
The Israeli military campaign has since killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, although figures released by the Hamas-run health ministry cannot be independently verified and include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, particularly as a result of terrorist groups’ misfiring rockets.
According to Israeli authorities, around 15,000 terrorists were killed in Gaza during the war. The Israeli military also claims to have killed some 1,000 terrorists in Israel on October 7 and that 280 soldiers were killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and during operations along the border with Gaza.
Aid agencies say they are running out of food in southern Gaza, while the United Nations World Food Program says famine has already set in in northern Gaza.
Troops finished installing the floating pier on Thursday, and the US military’s Central Command said the first aid arrived in Gaza at 9 a.m. on Friday. He said no American troops had landed as part of the operation.
The Pentagon said no safeguards were expected in the distribution process. The U.S. plan is for the United Nations, through the World Food Program, to take charge of the aid once it leaves the dock. This will involve coordinating the arrival of empty trucks and their registration, supervising the transfer of goods arriving via the floating dock onto trucks and their shipment to warehouses across Gaza and, finally, handing over supplies to aid groups for delivery.
Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates and the United States Agency for International Development pass through the Trident Pier before entering Gaza Beach, May 17, 2024. (Communications Specialist from Mass 1st Class Kelby Sanders/US Navy via AP)
The UK said part of its aid to Gaza was for the first shipment landed, including the first of 8,400 kits to provide temporary shelters made from plastic sheeting. And he said more aid, including 2,000 additional shelter kits, 900 tents, five forklifts and 9,200 hygiene kits, would follow in the coming weeks.
“This is the culmination of a Herculean joint international effort,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said. “We know that the sea route is not the only answer. We must open more land routes, including through the Rafah crossing, to ensure that more aid reaches civilians who desperately need help.
Aid distribution had not yet started as of Friday afternoon, said a U.N. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The official said the process of unloading and reloading the goods was still underway.
The United Nations’ humanitarian aid coordinating agency said the start of the operation was welcome but did not replace land deliveries.
“I think everyone in the operation has said it: any aid to Gaza is welcome, in any way,” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters on Friday. journalists in Geneva. The delivery of aid to the people of Gaza “cannot and must not depend on a floating dock far from where the needs are most acute.”
Anastasia Moran, associate director of the International Rescue Committee, said the pier was actually distracting from the growing humanitarian crisis.
Israeli troops are seen on the coast of central Gaza, where a US-built floating pier is to be installed, in a photo released May 16, 2024. (Israel Defense Force)
Over the past two months, “the sea route has required time, energy and resources at a time when aid has not been increased,” she said. “And now that the sea route is operational, the land crossings have been effectively closed. »
During the nine-day period between May 6, when Israel launched its offensive on Rafah, and May 15, a total of 154 trucks carrying food and 156 carrying flour entered Gaza through three land crossing points, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said Friday. Haq also warned this week that almost no fuel was getting through.
Israel fears Hamas is using fuel in the war, but it says it places no limits on the entry of humanitarian aid and blames the UN for delays in distributing goods entering Gaza. Israel has opened two crossing points to deliver aid to the hard-hit north of the territory in recent weeks.
He said a series of Hamas attacks on the main crossing point, Kerem Shalom, had disrupted the flow of goods. The UN says fighting, Israeli fire and chaotic security conditions have hampered delivery. There were also violent protests by Israelis which disrupted aid deliveries.
Israel recently took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in its campaign against Hamas around the town on the Egyptian border, sparking fears over the safety of civilians while also cutting off the main entrance to the aid in the Gaza Strip.
IDF troops on the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing, May 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Force)
US President Joe Biden ordered the pier project, which is expected to cost $320 million. The aid-laden boats will be dropped off at an Israeli-built port facility just southwest of Gaza City. The United States has coordinated closely with Israel on how to protect ships and personnel working on the beach.
Concerns about the safety of aid workers were highlighted last month when an Israeli strike killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers whose travel had been coordinated with Israeli officials. The group had also brought aid by sea.
Pentagon officials have made clear that security conditions will be closely monitored and could result in a closure of the shipping route, if only temporarily. The site was previously targeted by mortar fire during its construction, and Hamas has threatened to target any foreign force that “occupies” the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces are responsible for security on land, but there are also two U.S. Navy warships nearby that can protect American and other troops.
Aid for the sea route is collected and inspected in Cyprus, then loaded onto ships and transported approximately 320 kilometers to the large floating jetty off the coast of Gaza. There, the pallets are transferred to trucks which are then transported to army boats, which will transport the trucks from the dock to a floating causeway anchored to the beach. Once the trucks are dropped off, they return to the boats.
News Source : www.timesofisrael.com
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