Gaza: Dock to deliver ‘functional’ humanitarian aid in early May, Israeli army hopes

It should facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army said on Saturday it hoped the floating pier, built in Palestinian territory besieged and bombed by Israel, would be “fully operational” by early May.

“We are fully committed to increasing the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, and we will work on this initiative with our partners in the coming weeks, hoping to have it fully operational by early May,” an army spokesman said. Lieutenant Nadav Shoshani during a videoconference with foreign media.

The Pentagon announced Thursday that it has begun construction of a floating platform off the coast of Gaza. A British ship meant to accommodate hundreds of American soldiers involved in building an artificial pier in the Gaza Strip to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid has sailed from Cyprus, a military source said earlier on Saturday.

Checks in Cyprus

The aid will first arrive in Cyprus, where it will be vetted and then prepared for delivery, a senior US military official said. “This will be a temporary floating pier, operated by the Americans, a few kilometers from the coast,” then the Israeli army will manage the unloading of humanitarian aid on land, Lt. Shoshani said. “There will be no American troops on the ground, so once aid arrives on the ground, international organizations will be responsible for its distribution in Gaza,” he added, without specifying which organizations would be involved.

Operational capacity will initially be 90 aid trucks per day, then 150 per day, according to the Pentagon. Faced with Israeli delays and blockages in the delivery of humanitarian aid by land in the Gaza Strip, which has been hit by a humanitarian disaster, US President Joe Biden announced the construction of an artificial port in early March. The UN and non-governmental organizations regularly note that these types of initiatives, however, cannot replace a significant increase in the amount of humanitarian aid delivered by land.

The Israeli army also said on Saturday that 25,000 trucks carrying humanitarian aid had entered Gaza since October 7, “including 16,000 containers of food aid.” Some 23,000 trucks have entered Gaza since October 7, according to the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha). Before the war, about 500 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza every day, Ocha recalls.