US launches ship with equipment to build port in Gaza

2024-03-10 10:11:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

A US military ship carrying equipment to build a temporary port in Gaza has headed for the Palestinian enclave, three days after US President Joe Biden announced plans to increase aid shipments by sea to Gaza, where hundreds of thousands Palestinians are facing starvation.

The opening of the sea corridor, along with airdrops from the US, Jordan and others, signal growing alarm over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and also represent a departure from Israel's ground checks on aid shipments.

Israel has welcomed the sea shipments and said it would inspect ships carrying supplies bound for Gaza in an area near Cyprus. The number of ships entering Gaza per day has been below the 500 that entered the enclave before the war began in October, due to Israeli restrictions and security concerns.

Meanwhile, Biden has increased his criticism of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The US leader said he believes Netanyahu is "hurting Israel more than helping Israel" in the way he is approaching the war against Hamas - the Palestinian group designated a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union - in Gaza, which it is already in the sixth month.

Biden said he supports Israel's right to retaliate against Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel, but said Netanyahu "needs to pay more attention to the innocent lives that are being lost because of the actions that he's taking." are undertaken".

As part of efforts to increase humanitarian aid and build a temporary port, the U.S. military announced that the USS General Frank S. Besson has left the Navy base in Virginia "less than 36 hours after President Biden announced that the U.S. The United States will provide humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea.

The logistics support ship "is carrying the first equipment to establish a temporary port to ship vital humanitarian supplies," the release said.

Biden made the announcement about the temporary port Thursday during his address to the nation. The announcement by the American leader came after warnings from the United Nations about the spread of hunger among the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Since Hamas's initial assault on southern Gaza in October, which killed nearly 1,200 people and kidnapped nearly 250 others, Israel has carried out ground and air offensives in the besieged enclave. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza led by Hamas, over 30,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed by the offensive.

Gaza has no port infrastructure. Initially, the US plans to use Cyprus, which is offering a cargo ship screening process that will involve Israeli officials. This process avoids security checks in Gaza.

Most Gazans are now internally displaced persons, and the enclave is facing obstacles in delivering humanitarian aid at land border checkpoints. /REL