Middle East

US-built floating pier yet to be used for Gaza aid deliveries

High winds and rough seas delay installation of jetty but high-ranking US air force officer pledges structure in place ‘in very near future’

A truck carrying food aid for Gaza to about to be loaded on to the container ship Sagamore on the dock at Larnaca port, Cyprus. Photograph: Petros Karadjias/AP

Michael Jansen
Fri May 10 2024 - 19:59

The floating pier built by the US to deliver urgent supplies to Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians remains anchored off Israel’s Ashdod port because of wind and rough seas. US air force maj gen Pat Ryder has said the jetty would be in position off the Gaza coast “in the very near future, pending suitable security and weather conditions.”

The US naval container ship Sagamore, loaded with US and UK aid, left Cyprus’s Larnaca port Thursday to inaugurate the complicated process of US deliveries along the maritime corridor between the island and Gaza.

Also anchored off Ashdod, the Sagamore has begun to transfer its cargo to the Roy P Benavidez, a US naval vessel. Once this is completed, the Sagamore will return to Larnaca to collect more supplies.

The €298 million US pier will be located 5km off the Gaza coast. Small boats will take aid to a US-built floating causeway connected to the shore. Trucks will load and land cargo which will be collected by humanitarian organisations and distributed.

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Several problems must be resolved before deliveries can commence. International aid agencies object to Israel’s control at the Gaza landing stage. They also object to the recruitment of Israeli drivers to transport supplies along the causeway, as they do not want to be regarded by Gazans as collaborating with Israel.

Critics argue the pier cannot provide sufficient aid for Gaza’s population. It is envisaged that about 90 lorry-loads of aid will initially reach Gaza daily via the pier and that the number will rise to 150. This is insufficient, especially after the main crossings at Rafah and Kerem Shalom were closed this week when Israel mounted its offensive in eastern Rafah.

Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said: “This is a temporary pier, [it] is not the best way to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. The best [ways] are through ... land routes and we want to see those opened up.”

Relief agencies have accused Israel of slowing down and interfering with aid flows into Gaza.

Concern has been raised over likely pier’s positioning offshore from the military road, dubbed the Netzarim corridor, that divides Gaza into northern and southern sectors. Landing supplies there could allow the Israeli military to block aid for 300,000 people remaining in the north of Gaza.

Michael Jansen

Michael Jansen

Michael Jansen contributes news from and analysis of the Middle East to The Irish Times

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