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US soldiers prepare to deliver aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip
Photo: US Central Command via X / REUTERS
Complex aid: The government estimates that the US's plan to set up a temporary port to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip will take up to two months.
U.S. Department of Defense spokesman Pat Ryder said Friday that it was expected to take about 60 days for the temporary port to be fully operational.
Once built, it could be used 24 hours a day.
It would then be possible to deliver up to two million meals a day.
Ryder emphasized that in the meantime, the United States is seeking to significantly expand overland deliveries as the most effective way to get aid to the crisis area.
And the dropping of relief supplies from the air also continued.
The US government announced on Thursday that the US military wanted to set up a temporary port to bring food, water and medicine to the war zone in view of the humanitarian emergency in Gaza.
Ryder said the plan is to build a floating pier off the coast where commercial ships carrying relief supplies could dock.
The goods would then be transferred to other US Navy ships and brought to a floating causeway where they would eventually be unloaded.
Ryder said the concept envisages the presence of US soldiers and military ships off the coast, but does not require US forces to go ashore - even to set up the structures.
The dam would consist of modules that would be built at sea and then pushed to the coast and anchored there.
The United States coordinated with other nations to organize the operation of the dam and the distribution of aid.
The humanitarian situation of the people in Gaza has been deteriorating dramatically for weeks.
UN representatives recently warned of the starvation of thousands of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
In view of the humanitarian catastrophe, the USA began delivering aid supplies to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip from the air last weekend.
Now the sea route should follow.
It is noteworthy that the USA feels compelled to take these steps because its ally Israel, which it supports militarily in the fight against the terrorist organization Hamas, is restricting humanitarian aid to Gaza by land.
Asked why the U.S. isn't simply pushing Israel to open land routes for humanitarian supplies, Ryder said the U.S. government continues to talk to Israel and other partners about it.
But don't wait idly in the meantime.
There simply isn't enough help coming to Gaza.
In his State of the Union address on Thursday, US President Joe Biden denounced the dramatic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and sent words of warning to Israel.
"Israel must allow more aid deliveries to Gaza," he said.
Humanitarian aid should not be used as a bargaining chip.
dop/dpa