Trucks carrying humanitarian aid began moving ashore into Gaza Friday using a temporary pier built by the United States, delivering desperately needed supplies to the besieged Palestinian enclave.
The floating dock is part of a makeshift effort to stave off a possible famine in Gaza, where Israel’s military assault has shut off a number of crossings that are crucial for supplies of food, fuel and other aid.
Israeli forces pressed on with sweeping operations against Hamas in the north and south of the enclave, while the country's lawyers defended its ground offensive in Rafah at the United Nations' top court.
The aid trucks began moving into Gaza at around 9 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET), the U.S. Central Command said in a post on X, a day after the military finished installing the pier.
"No U.S. troops went ashore in Gaza," CENTCOM said. "This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature," it added, noting that aid was being donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organizations.
Britain said that its aid was among that delivered via the pier.
"UK aid has been successfully delivered to the Gaza shore today, in the first delivery across the US-built temporary pier. The first of 8,400 shelter coverage kits — temporary shelters made up of plastic sheeting — have arrived in Gaza, alongside aid from the US and UAE," the U.K. government said in a statement, adding that more aid would follow in the coming weeks.
kozak_ on May 17th, 2024 at 14:57 UTC »
This is not about faster or more efficient.
This is a show of force something like the way when Caesar made a bridge over the Rhine river in 10 days to show the Germans that Roman power easily and at will can cross whenever they want. Arguably calmed the German tribes for centuries afterwards.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar's_Rhine_bridges
So while officially American soldiers have not stepped foot onto land, it's not that hard to imagine American soldiers unloading on the pier and driving in if it ever gets bad enough.
And even the houthis now have to think twice. Because they can imagine the same thing happening off their own coast.
Girafferage on May 17th, 2024 at 11:32 UTC »
It's the only way aid will get into Gaza and maybe hold off a famine for some of them, so good stuff.
nbcnews on May 17th, 2024 at 08:21 UTC »
Trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid have begun moving ashore into Gaza using a temporary pier delivered by the United States, the U.S. military said Friday.
The aid trucks began moving into Gaza at around 9 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET), the U.S. Central Command said in a post on X.
"No U.S. troops went ashore in Gaza," CENTCOM said. "This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature," it added, noting that aid was being donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organizations.