United States military says Gaza floating pier is complete, aid to Palestinians to flow soon

United States military says Gaza floating pier is complete, aid to Palestinians to flow soon

New Delhi : The US today said it had anchored a temporary pier at Gaza, allowing merchant ships to dock mid-sea for providing relief and supplies via the sea route. This sea route for supplies to Gaza will be offer an alternate to the existing land-routes via Israel or Egypt.

US Central Command headquartered at Bahrain said, “In support of delivering additional humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, a temporary pier was anchored to the beach in Gaza.” As part of this effort, no US troops entered Gaza. Trucks carrying humanitarian assistance are expected to begin moving ashore in the coming days. The United Nations will receive the aid and coordinate its distribution into Gaza, the US Central Command said.

Called the ‘Joint Logistics Over-The-Shore’ or JLOTS, this is expected to streamline the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The JLOTS has two portions — the floating pier at sea and the ‘causeway’. Trucks will use the causeway to reach the shores.

The US military completed the offshore construction of ‘the causeway,’ last week, however, the anchoring was put on hold due to a storm in the Mediterranean Sea.

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