- Written by Tiffany Wertheimer
- BBC News
Image source, US Central Command
General Frank S. Beeson carries the first load of equipment to build a floating port
The US military said that a US military ship was sailing towards the Middle East carrying equipment to build a temporary dock off the coast of Gaza.
The support ship, General Frank S. Beeson, sailed from a military base in Virginia on Saturday.
This comes after President Joe Biden said that the United States will build the floating port to help deliver aid to Gaza by sea.
The United Nations has warned that famine in the Gaza Strip is “almost inevitable” and that children are starving to death.
Aid deliveries by land and air have proven difficult and dangerous.
US Central Command wrote on the X website that the US ship departed “less than 36 hours” after Biden’s announcement.
The statement added that the ship “carries the first equipment to establish a temporary dock to deliver vital humanitarian supplies” to Gaza.
The Pentagon said it could take up to 60 days to build the pier with the help of 1,000 troops, none of whom would make it to shore.
The charities said those suffering in Gaza could not wait that long.
It is hoped that the Open Arms ship will be able to depart before Monday, after the European Union announced the opening of a new sea route over the weekend to allow aid to sail directly from Cyprus – the closest EU country to Gaza.
Image source, World Central Kitchen/Open Arms
The Open Arms aid ship had been ready to depart for weeks, the charity's founder said
The ship belongs to the Spanish charity of the same name, Open Arms, and the food on board was provided by the US charity World Central Kitchen.
It is unclear how any aid delivered by sea could safely reach shore before the US pier is built. Gaza has no effective port and the surrounding waters are too shallow to allow large ships to move.
However, at the destination point — which remains secret — a team from World Central Kitchen built a dock to receive aid, Oscar Camps, founder of Open Arms, told The Associated Press.
Israel welcomed the ocean initiative, and said that the aid would be delivered after conducting security checks in Cyprus “in accordance with Israeli standards.”
The Israeli military launched an air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip after Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 253 others were taken hostage.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Strip says more than 30,900 people have been killed in Gaza since then.
The conflict has created a growing humanitarian crisis, and the United Nations has warned that at least 576,000 people across the Gaza Strip – a quarter of the population – face catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Western countries pressured Israel to expand ground aid deliveries by facilitating more roads and opening additional crossings.
Trucks enter southern Gaza through the Rafah crossing, which is under Egyptian control, and the Kerem Shalom crossing, which is under Israeli control. But the north, which was the focus of the first phase of Israel's ground offensive, has been largely cut off from aid in recent months.
An estimated 300,000 Palestinians live there with little food and clean water.
Israel has been accused of obstructing relief efforts, and an independent UN expert accused it last week of waging a “starvation campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Yela Citrin, legal advisor at the Israeli mission to the United Nations, responded that “Israel completely rejects the allegations that it uses starvation as a tool of war,” before withdrawing in protest.
