The gratitude of the US to the Government of Cyprus for the cooperation in the direction of providing humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea, was expressed by a senior US military official, who was briefed on the construction of a pier in Gaza.
In particular, senior officials of the US Department of Defense and the Biden administration said that US military personnel have begun construction of a temporary jetty off Gaza to provide humanitarian aid.
According to information, the construction of the pier is expected to be completed at the beginning of May. Once completed, it will initially facilitate the delivery of approximately 90 trucks of international aid to Gaza, which will gradually increase to 150 trucks once fully operational.
"The corridor is intended to complement and augment, not replace, the ground delivery of humanitarian aid going to Gaza," said Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh.
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US forces have been planning and working with the USAID team, Cyprus and Israel for weeks, working out plans to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
According to the Department of Defense, the start of construction marks a major milestone after President Joe Biden called on the military to conduct the emergency operation during his State of the Nation address last month.
Soldiers from the Army's 7th Transportation Brigade from Langley-Eustis Air Force Base, Virginia, and Marines from California, were used to deploy the temporary floating pier.
US officials stressed that no "American boots" would be on Gaza soil as part of the operation. The US has coordinated with the Israeli Armed Forces to provide force protection to US personnel operating at sea and has also coordinated with an Israeli army engineering unit to take over the pier on the Gaza coast once its construction at sea is complete.
“I would like to thank the UK for supporting coordination in Cyprus and for providing the RFA Cardigan Bay ship to support this mission. "Hundreds of US soldiers and sailors will live and sleep in Cardigan at sea," a senior US military official said, noting that the US military will not set foot on the ground.
He also said they had "excellent coordination with Cyprus and we are grateful to the Government of Cyprus, the Cypriot Minister of Defense, as well as dozens of countries from around the world, many of whom we informed Cyprus at the end of last month of our plan to delivering humanitarian aid from the sea to those in need," a senior US military official said.
The senior military official said that the effort to deliver humanitarian aid from the sea is fully supported by the Israel Defense Forces, with whom they have cooperated and will continue to cooperate very closely.
"As far as the transport from Cyprus to the pier is concerned, this will mainly be by civilian boats. We would certainly like to maximize the amount of humanitarian aid in the future, so I wouldn't rule anything out. The goods will be checked in Cyprus and we intend for the aid to reach the north", he added.
“There are different checkpoints on the way to get north. We're working on different kinds of protocols to actually make certain movements through checkpoints easier. The inspection program in Cyprus has already been agreed by the Cypriot and Israeli Governments. So once the humanitarian aid is on the beach and moving, we want to be able to move it quickly," he said.
About 1.000 soldiers and sailors are involved in the operation. The Department of Defense is working closely with the US Agency for International Development, which has begun coordinating international aid. Aid providers have started placing cargo in Cyprus for delivery via the sea corridor once the jetty is in place.
Source: KYPE