Satellite images show a pier under construction on the Gaza coast (Maxar)
The US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) announced that Israel will play a role in ensuring the security of the proposed temporary port for providing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
In a press conference yesterday, Tuesday, Assistant Pentagon Spokesperson Sabrina Singh stated that the sea corridor to provide aid to Gaza was one of the issues discussed by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, in Washington.
She added that efforts related to establishing the temporary port are continuing.
She also stated that the United States will distribute aid through its partners and non-governmental organizations in the region, noting that no further information is available regarding the details of this stage.
The spokeswoman said that since the beginning of this March, more than 8 tons of food supplies have been dropped into Gaza through 17 air drops.
During his State of the Union address on March 8, US President Joe Biden stated that he had issued instructions to the army to establish a temporary port near the coast of Gaza, indicating that more humanitarian aid would reach Gaza by sea through this port.
On the same day, the President of Greek Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, announced, during a joint press conference with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the approaching opening of a sea corridor to transport humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Last month, a Pentagon spokesman revealed details of the proposed port, which will be 500 meters long and is expected to take about two months to build. Israel welcomed the idea, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made press statements in which he claimed that he was "the owner of the port idea."
Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which has so far resulted in the death of 32,414 Palestinians and the injury of 74,787 others, most of them children and women. The aggression also caused massive destruction of infrastructure, leaving an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to Palestinian and international reports.
Source: Anadolu Agency