The US is building a pier off the coast of Gaza to bring in humanitarian aid. Here’s how it would work: San Bernardino Sun

On May 2, 2024By Vaseline

This undated photo released by the US Army Central Command early Tuesday, April 30, 2024, shows the construction of a floating pier in the Mediterranean Sea, off the Gaza Strip. A US Navy ship involved in the American-led effort to bring more aid to the besieged Gaza Strip is off the coast of the enclave and slowly building out a floating platform for the operation, satellite photos analyzed on Monday, April 29 2024 by The Associated Press show. (U.S. Army Central Command via AP)

By LOLITA C. BALDOR (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and allies are trying to piece together a complex system that will transport tons of humanitarian aid by sea to Gaza. Nearly two months after President Joe Biden gave the order, U.S. Army and Navy forces are assembling a large floating platform several miles off the Gaza coast that will serve as a launch pad for deliveries.

But any eventual distribution of aid — which could begin as early as early May — will depend on a complicated logistics and security plan with many moving parts and details that have not yet been finalized.

The aid is desperately needed as the UN says people in Gaza are on the brink of famine. But there are still widespread safety concerns. And some aid groups say that because so much more is needed, the focus should instead be on urging Israel to remove obstacles to aid delivery on land routes.

Setting up the system is expected to cost at least $320 million, the Pentagon said Monday. Here’s how it will work:

IT ALL STARTS IN CYPRUS

Humanitarian aid destined for Gaza via the maritime route will be delivered by air or sea to Cyprus, an island on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said the aid would be subject to security checks at the port of Larnaca. Using that single departure point addresses Israeli security concerns that all cargo is inspected to ensure nothing is loaded onto ships that Hamas could use against Israeli forces. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The screening will be rigorous and comprehensive, including the use of mobile X-ray machines, according to a Cypriot government official who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose details of the security operation. The process will involve Cypriot Customs, Israeli teams, the US and the United Nations Office for Project Services.

A US military official said the US has set up a coordination cell in Cyprus to work with the government there, the US Agency for International Development and other agencies and partners. The group will focus on coordinating the collection and inspection of aid, said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation.

THEN TO THE FLOATING PLATFORM

Once the pallets of relief supplies are inspected, they will be loaded onto ships – mainly commercial vessels – and taken about 200 miles (320 kilometers) to the large floating pier being built by the US military off the coast of Gaza.

There, the pallets will be transferred to trucks that will in turn be loaded onto two types of smaller Army boats: Logistic Support Vessels, or LSVs, and Landing Craft Utility boats, LCUs. The U.S. military official said the LSVs can hold 15 trucks each and the LCUs can hold about five.

The army boats will then transport the trucks from the pier to a floating causeway, which will be several kilometers away and anchored in the beach by the Israeli army.

Because Biden has made clear that no U.S. military force will set foot in Gaza, the troops carrying out the construction and operating and manning the boats will be housed and fed on other ships offshore near the large floating pier.

The Royal Navy support ship RFA Cardigan Bay will provide accommodation for hundreds of American sailors and soldiers working on the pier construction. Another contracted vessel will also be used for housing, but officials have not identified it.

SMALL BOATS TO THE CAUSE

The small army boats will sail to the two-lane, 550 meter long dike.

The U.S. military official said a U.S. Army engineering unit had been working with an Israeli engineering unit in recent weeks to practice the installation of the causeway, training on an Israeli beach just offshore. The British Hydrographic Office also worked with the US and Israeli military to analyze the coastline and prepare the final installation.

American ships will push the floating dike into place, pushing it into the coastline, where the Israeli army will be ready to secure it.

Trucks loaded with the pallets of aid will drive from the Army boats onto the causeway and drive to a safe area on land where they will drop off the aid, immediately turn around and return to the boats. The trucks will repeat that loop again and again and to ensure safety, they will be confined to that restricted route.

They will be operated by personnel from another country, but U.S. officials would not say which country that would be.

DISTRIBUTION AMONG AID AGENCIES AND CITIZENS

Aid groups will gather the supplies for distribution on land at a port facility built by the Israelis just southwest of Gaza City. Officials say they initially expect about 90 truckloads of aid per day and that will quickly grow to about 150 per day.

The UN is working with USAID to set up the logistics hub on the beach.

There will be three zones in the port: one controlled by the Israelis where aid will be dropped off from the pier, another where aid will be transferred and a third where Palestinian drivers contracted by the UN will wait to deliver the aid. before they take help. to distribution points.

However, aid groups say this maritime corridor is not sufficient to meet needs in Gaza and should only be part of a broader Israeli effort to improve sustainable, land-based aid delivery to prevent famine.

The groups, the UN, the US and other governments have cited Israel’s aid restrictions and its failure to protect humanitarian workers as reasons for the reduction in food shipments through land crossings, although they credit Israel with making some improvements recently.

U.S. Gaza envoy David Satterfield said last week that only about 200 trucks were entering Gaza per day, far fewer than the 500 that international aid groups say are needed.

SAFETY ONSHORE AND OFF

A major concern is security – both of militants and of the Israeli army, which has been criticized for killing aid workers.

Sonali Korde, a USAID official, said key agreements for security and handling of aid deliveries were still being negotiated. This includes how Israeli forces will operate in Gaza to ensure aid workers are not harmed.

Aid groups have been rocked by the Israeli airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers on April 1 as they traveled in clearly marked vehicles on an Israeli-sanctioned delivery mission.

And there has already been one mortar attack on the site by militants, reflecting continued threats from Hamas, which has said it would reject the presence of non-Palestinians in Gaza.

U.S. and Israeli officials have declined to provide security details. But the US military official said it will be much more robust when deliveries begin than at present. And there will be daily assessments of force protection needs there.

The IDF will provide coastal security, and the U.S. military will provide its own security for Army and Navy forces offshore.

Associated Press reporters Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed.