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The United States renewed its emphasis on establishing a sea corridor as one of the alternatives for delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, especially with the occupation army’s destruction of the only port in Gaza, the ineffectiveness of the mechanism for dropping aid by air, and the difficulty of entering it by land.

The corridor begins from the island of Cyprus, where aid ships dock and are subjected to careful inspection supervised by Israel, which decides what is allowed to be sent to the Strip, according to a report by journalist Salam Khader, broadcast by Al Jazeera.

The ships will then take a route to the floating port, which is the most prominent corner of the sea corridor - which Washington pledged to build and Israel to protect - and it is a platform in the Mediterranean Sea. Nearly a thousand American soldiers will work on building it, and construction will take about 60 days.

The exact location of the pier has not been determined, but estimates indicate that it will be built about 600 meters off the shores of Gaza, allowing cargo ships to approach it, as deep waters allow large ships to approach without threatening the safety of navigation.

After the ships arrive, the cargo will be unloaded at the port, to be transported to Gaza, while the US Department of Defense said that the port will be connected to a land point on the coast of the Strip via two bridges, each about 550 meters long.

Challenges facing the plan

The details of the port plan are still incomplete, as it faces three challenges. The first is identifying safe corridors to distribute aid after it is delivered to the shore, whether to the north, center, or south of the Gaza Strip, while ensuring that it is not targeted by the occupation forces.

The second challenge lies in the security of aid trucks, especially when they enter areas that Israel classifies as areas of conflict, noting that the occupation forces have previously targeted United Nations relief trucks whose entry and flight paths were coordinated with the occupation forces according to UN officials.

The third challenge is who will be responsible for distributing aid, as the United States talks about its openness to discuss several scenarios, starting with private security companies, through to what it calls Palestinian businessmen or companies.

A few days ago, US President Joe Biden announced - during his State of the Union address - that he would direct the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary naval pier in the Mediterranean Sea on the coast of Gaza capable of receiving large ships carrying food, medicine, water, and temporary shelters.

He stressed that there would be no American forces on the ground, and said that this pier would allow a huge increase in humanitarian aid reaching the Gaza Strip.

Source: Al Jazeera