Gaza – Together – On Tuesday, the US Army published pictures showing the presence of American soldiers on the coast of the Gaza Strip, in what it described as ‘another attempt to deliver aid to the hungry Palestinians by sea.’
After the pier failed and washed away twice, the floating port, whose value was estimated at about $230 million, was restarted again. The US military invited journalists to tour it on Tuesday, the first time international media witnessed its operations directly.
International journalists have not been allowed to enter Gaza independently since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
The project, which was launched for the first time in mid-May, resumed operations last week after a temporary halt due to it being swept away by rough sea waves.
As journalists watched on Tuesday, American soldiers carrying machine guns were directing dock operations, and American ships carrying trucks loaded with humanitarian aid docked at the dock.
Israeli and Cypriot drivers
removed the trucks from the ships and headed across the 400-meter bridge to the beach, where they unloaded the aid loads. The trucks then returned to the ships to be transferred to large cargo ships and reloaded from Cyprus.
Colonel Samuel Miller, commander of Joint Task Force, US Army’s 7th Transportation Brigade, said ships can transport aid to the dock at least five times a day.
‘Our mission here is to receive those humanitarian aid platforms offshore from a larger ship to that floating dock,’ he said loudly amid the waves crashing into the pier. ‘Over time, we learn to organize and we have improved.’
The floating dock was installed on Gaza Beach on June 19 after strong waves and strong winds caused it to separate from the shore. In May, similar conditions halted operations for two weeks after a pier collapsed and four U.S. Army ships ran aground, injuring three service members, one seriously.
Miller said that since returning to work, the pier has been transporting hundreds of aid pallets daily to the
beach. So far, about 6,200 metric tons (6,800 tons) of aid from the project has been delivered to the Gaza shore, the US military said.
Source: Maan News Agency