Trucks depart U.S. floating pier, bringing humanitarian aid ashore in Gaza

Paul Godfrey
·3 min read
19
UPI
The first trucks carrying more than 500 tons of humanitarian assistance began rolling off a U.S.-built floating causeway on the Gaza shore Friday morning, the American military said. Photo via U.S. Central Command/UPI

May 17 (UPI) -- The first trucks carrying more than 500 tons of humanitarian assistance began rolling off a U.S.-built floating causeway on the Gaza shore Friday morning, the American military said.

The landings, a day after the United States announced it had anchored a temporary pier to the beach, are the culmination of a multinational effort to deliver additional aid supplied by a number of countries and humanitarian organizations to civilians in Gaza through a maritime corridor from Cyprus, U.S. Central Command said in a post on X.

CENTCOM reiterated that no U.S. troops went ashore in the operation and that the maritime corridor was "entirely humanitarian in nature."

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM deputy commander, said earlier he anticipated that the so-called Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore system would see an initial 90 trucks a day rolling ashore in Gaza, with that figure eventually rising to 150.

The trucks are ferried to the pier aboard logistics support vessels, each of which is capable of transporting up to 15 vehicles, from a large staging platform floating several miles out at sea which receives aid shipments being brought in from Cyprus by larger commercial ships.

Once ashore, the trucks drive into a marshaling yard built and protected by the Israel Defense Forces from where CENTCOM has said the United Nations will receive and coordinate the distribution of the aid throughout Gaza.

However, as of late Thursday, it remained unclear whether the U.N. was fully on board with the plan with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' spokesman saying the negotiations were "still going on."

The U.N. World Food Program has a range of concerns from possible impacts on maintaining its neutral stance in the conflict to Israeli military checkpoints and route closures hindering its ability to fulfill its role.

Security is another fear in the wake of the first death Monday of an international U.N. worker on Monday in the Gaza conflict.

The Indian employee of the agency's Safety and Security Department was killed and another staff member injured after their vehicle, the U.N. said, was targeted by Israeli tank fire in Rafah even though a travel plan had been security-cleared and approved by the IDF.

The U.N. is also worried about a shortage of vehicles to deliver the aid after losing large numbers to Israeli military action and being prevented from replenishing its fleet and a lack of fuel following the closure of the Rafah border crossing via which all fuel is delivered to Gaza.

Ahead of the JLOTS maritime operation getting underway, Cooper said security was a top priority and was confident that a plan in place would protect all those involved, including humanitarian workers.

Vulnerabilities have been exposed after Israeli personnel constructing the land-side facilities for the mission came under mortar attack, although no one has been hurt.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which is coordinating the mission with the U.S. Defense Department, has repeatedly stressed that the effort does not side with any party and that its sole purpose is "to assist humanitarian organizations in an independent, neutral, and impartial manner."

USAID acknowledged Thursday that fuel was a concern but said U.S. officials expected availability would be sufficient for the distribution of materiel being brought in via the new pier.