Construction of a pier for the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza
(Video: IDF, Defense Ministry )
Construction was underway Friday for the floating JLOTS (Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore) pier in the Mediterranean Sea, marking a significant step forward in efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. The pier, which is being built to support USAID and humanitarian partners, will serve as a crucial hub for receiving and delivering essential aid supplies to Gaza.
A U.S. Navy ship and several Army vessels involved in an American-led effort to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip are offshore of the enclave and building out a floating platform for the operation, which the Pentagon said Monday will cost at least $320 million.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters the cost is a rough estimate for the project and includes the transportation of the equipment and pier sections from the U.S. to the Gaza coast, as well as the construction and aid delivery operations.
Satellite photos analyzed Monday by The Associated Press show the USNS Roy P. Benavidez about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the port on shore, where the base of operations for the project is being built by the IDF. The USAV General Frank S. Besson Jr., an Army logistics vessel, and several other Army boats are with the Benavidez and working on the construction of what the military calls the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, system.
A satellite image from Sunday by Planet Labs PBC showed pieces of the floating pier in the Mediterranean Sea alongside the Benavidez. Measurements of the vessel match known features of the Benavidez, a Bob Hope-class vehicle cargo ship operated by the Military Sealift Command.
A U.S. military official confirmed late last week that the Benavidez had begun construction and that it was far enough offshore to ensure troops building the platform would be safe. Singh said Monday that next will come the construction of the causeway, which will then be anchored to the beach.
U.S. and Israeli officials have said they hope to have the floating pier in place, the causeway attached to the shore and operations underway by early May. The cost of the operation was first reported by Reuters.
Under the plan by the U.S. military, aid will be loaded onto commercial ships in Cyprus to sail to the floating platform now under construction off Gaza. The pallets will be loaded onto trucks, which will be loaded onto smaller ships that will travel to a metal, floating two-lane causeway. The 550-meter (1,800-foot) causeway will be attached to the shore by the IDF.
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U.S. logistical vessel on its way to build the pier on the Gaza shore
(Photo: US CENTCOM via Reuters)
The U.S. military official said an American Army engineering unit has teamed with an IDF engineering unit in recent weeks to practice the installation of the causeway, training on an Israeli beach just up the coast.
The new port sits just southwest of Gaza City, a bit north of a road bisecting Gaza that the military built during the current fighting against Hamas.