The US military has started constructing a maritime pier that will allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, the Pentagon said on Friday April 26th, with the jetty set to become operational by early May, although it was reported that no US troops would be “on the ground” when the pier was completed. Other reports claimed that UK forces could step in to fill the gap.
In March President Joe Biden announced that the military would build a temporary port on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast to receive humanitarian aid by sea.
“I can confirm that U.S. military vessels, to include the USNS Benavidez, have begun to construct the initial stages of the temporary pier and causeway at sea,” Pentagon spokesperson Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters.
British troops could be deployed on the ground in Gaza to help deliver the aid via a new sea route, the BBC reported.
The US has said no American forces would go ashore and an unnamed “third party” would drive trucks along a floating causeway onto the beach. The UK is understood to be considering tasking British troops with this when the aid corridor opens next month.
Whitehall sources said no decision had been made. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Israeli army declined to comment.
The possible role for UK forces – known as “wet boots” by military planners – would see them drive trucks off landing craft onto the temporary causeway and deliver aid to a secure distribution area ashore.
Aid would be delivered there from Cyprus on large ships before being transferred into trucks and smaller landing craft. The floating causeway would be “several hundred metres long” and anchored firmly into the sand. It is hoped that the new maritime corridor – the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) operation – might ultimately deliver up to 150 trucks per day. The aim is to add to rather than replace aid deliveries by land that are still insufficient to meet the need. On average about 220 aid trucks per day are currently getting into Gaza by road.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has said it will provide “security and logistics support for the JLOTS initiative… to enhance the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip”.
Israel’s military will be responsible for anchoring the floating causeway to the beach and has been practising how to do this with American forces further north on the Israeli coast.
In a briefing with journalists, a senior US military official said because there would be no American boots on the ground, hundreds of US soldiers and sailors would live and sleep at sea on a UK naval vessel, RFA Cardigan Bay.
Although the MoD declined to comment about the suggestion UK forces might drive trucks ashore, Defence Minister Grant Shapps said the crew of RFA Cardigan Bay were central to the UK’s contribution, adding: “It is critical we establish more routes for vital humanitarian aid to reach the people of Gaza.”
