- Officials say the pier will be operational next month to deliver aid
- The mortars landed in an area that will be used as a marshalling yard, they said
Militants fired mortars at Israeli forces in Gaza as they prepared for the arrival of a U.S. military floating pier, U.S. officials said Thursday, an episode that highlights the risks of building a structure for humanitarian aid.
The 22-meter-wide and 220-meter-long platform is designed to receive shipments of food and other aid shipped from Cyprus.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said construction began Thursday and was unaffected by the attack.
“When it comes to the temporary pier and the causeway, those are being built offshore at sea and… essentially nowhere near mortars, so we’re not talking about that here,” he told reporters.
“You know, we are aware of reports that a small number of mortars have landed near the humanitarian aid marshalling yard, which will ultimately be the delivery point that will support this pier.”
US military ships left for the eastern Mediterranean last month to build a temporary pier to deliver aid to Gaza, where aid groups say a humanitarian emergency is underway.
War-weary Palestinians flock to beaches and swim to catch their breath amid continued Israeli attacks in Rafah
But he added that there were no US troops in Gaza.
Aid agencies have already expressed concerns about their safety and concerns about how Israeli forces will operate in the area.
Sonali Korde, an official at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said key agreements for security and handling of aid deliveries were still being negotiated.
This includes how Israeli forces will operate in Gaza to ensure aid workers are not harmed.
‘We need to see steps implemented. And the humanitarian community and the IDF (Israeli Armed Forces) continue to talk and engage and iterate and improve the system so that everyone feels safe and secure in this very difficult operational environment,” Korde said.
A senior U.S. military official said Thursday that the U.S. is on track to begin delivering aid through the new port and pier in early May.
The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not yet been made public, said deliveries via the sea route will initially total about 90 trucks per day and could quickly increase to about 150 trucks per day.
However, the senior official acknowledged that the final installation of the US-built causeway to the beach at the port will depend on the security situation, which is assessed daily.
The Israeli Defense Force has a brigade – thousands of soldiers – as well as ships and aircraft dedicated to protecting supplies, the official said.
A 2020 video shows a U.S. Army floating aid pier off the coast of the United Arab Emirates with a similar arrangement to the pier to be built off the coast of Gaza.
Aid agencies have been shocked by the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in an Israeli airstrike on April 1, while traveling in clearly marked vehicles on an Israeli-sanctioned delivery mission.
The killings have hardened sentiment among some aid groups that the international community should instead focus on urging Israel to remove obstacles to the delivery of aid over land routes by truck.
The World Central Kitchen staff, who were honored at a memorial service in Washington on Thursday, are among more than 200 humanitarian workers killed in Gaza, a toll the UN says is three times higher than any previous toll for aid workers in one years time. war.
