US army starts building Gaza pier for aid: ‘Absurd that this has to be done by sea’

The US Department of Defense called the construction of the 550-metre-long pier ‘a complex operation’ on Thursday. About a thousand soldiers will work on the project at sea, but no soldier will be allowed to set foot on land. After all, Biden doesn’t want an American ‘boots on the ground‘ have in the war zone. Once the colossus is completed, the Israeli army will attach the pier to the shore and provide security.

Biden announced the construction in early March to kick-start humanitarian aid to Gaza’s 2.2 million hungry residents. Within a few days, army and navy ships left for the Mediterranean and soldiers from logistics units were transferred. The soldiers and all equipment are now off the coast of Gaza, so that construction can finally begin.

At the beginning of May, ninety trucks worth of relief supplies can be delivered every day. This will then be scaled up to 150 trucks, or about two million meals per day. The US military is using the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore system (Jlots) for the construction of the pier. This allows them to land equipment and troops in an area where there is no port or where port facilities are inadequate.

Challenge

About six ships, carrying the floating parts for the pier and logistics personnel, are now operating off the coast of Gaza. Small landing ships build a floating platform of 82 by 22 meters about 5 kilometers from the beach where cargo ships have to deliver their relief supplies. From here the goods will be sailed to the pier. It consists of various parts that are put together in a short time.

Once the pier is completed, an Israeli army engineering unit will anchor it to the shore. The US Army’s Seventh Transport Brigade, which specializes in these types of logistics jobs at sea, also built a Jlots pier off the coast of Haiti in 2010 after the major earthquake. “The US and the world will see our humanitarian capabilities in action,” Brigade Commander Samuel Miller said in March when the first ships left Virginia for Gaza shortly after Biden’s speech.

“This is a huge engineering operation, but it is not difficult,” says Lieutenant General Hans van Griensven, former commander of the 11 Armored Engineer Battalion. Van Griensven was once also the boss of the Royal Army’s Engineering and Training Center. ‘The Americans have the means and the know-how‘, he says. ‘You can connect the floating parts, the pontoons, together in this way. The waves can cause problems. That becomes a challenge if a floating ship has to deliver the goods.’

Hazards

The construction of the pier and platform, hundreds of meters from the coast, is not without danger. Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are hostile to the US. The American military could become the target of mortar attacks. That this danger is not imaginary became clear on Wednesday when the place where the relief supplies will be landed was shelled with mortars. Israel is charged with securing the area.

American destroyers are also present at sea in case the logistics units are in serious danger. “We believe that the area we have chosen to locate the Jlots is secure enough to enable the mission,” a Pentagon official said Thursday. ‘But we look every day at what the situation is at that moment.’

Van Griensven: ‘There are certainly security risks associated with this construction project for the Americans. They will have to be vigilant against attacks. That is why it is absurd that this pier has to be built. Aid now has to take place by sea, while it can simply be done by ground if Israel agrees. What is happening now is the world upside down.’