By Olawale Abaire, Warrior Contributor
In a significant move, the U.S. military, encompassing both Navy and Army forces, is spearheading a project to construct a floating platform off the Gaza Strip’s coast. This initiative aims to expedite the delivery of much-needed aid to the besieged region. The Pentagon has projected the operation’s cost to be no less than US$320 million.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh, has clarified that this figure is a preliminary estimate, accounting for the transportation of necessary equipment and pier sections from the U.S. to Gaza and the costs associated with construction and aid distribution.
Last week, a U.S. military official confirmed that construction had commenced on the Benavidez, which is positioned at a safe distance offshore to protect the troops involved in the platform’s construction. On Monday, Singh stated that the project’s next phase involves the construction of a causeway, which will subsequently be anchored to the beach.
U.S. and Israeli officials have expressed hopes of operationalizing the floating pier, with the causeway attached to the shore, by early May. The Pentagon reiterated on Monday that the operation would cost at least $320 million.
The U.S. military’s plan involves loading aid onto commercial ships in Cyprus, which will then sail to the floating platform currently under construction off Gaza. The aid will be transferred onto trucks, which will then be loaded onto smaller ships destined for a metal, floating two-lane causeway. This 550-meter causeway will be attached to the shore by the Israeli Defense Forces.
An American Army engineering unit has recently collaborated with an Israeli military engineering unit to practice the installation of the causeway, conducting training exercises on an Israeli beach up the coast.
The new port is located southwest of Gaza City and slightly north of a road that bisects Gaza, a road constructed by the Israeli military during the ongoing conflict with Hamas. This area was once the most populous in the territory before the Israeli ground offensive displaced over 1 million people southward towards the city of Rafah on the Egyptian border.
Consequently, Israeli military positions now flank the port, which was initially constructed out of the rubble of buildings leveled by Israel as part of an effort led by World Central Kitchen. This initiative was halted after an Israeli airstrike resulted in the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers on April 1. The organization has since announced that it will resume its work in Gaza.
In the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and 250 hostages, Israel severely restricted or completely cut off the supply of food, water, medicine, electricity, and other forms of aid to the Gaza Strip. Under international pressure, Israel has stated that the situation is improving, although United Nations agencies have argued that much more aid is needed.
Gaza, home to 2.3 million people and slightly more than twice the size of Washington D.C., is teetering on the brink of famine. Local health authorities report that more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the fighting began.
On Sunday, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari stated that the volume of aid entering Gaza would continue to increase. He said, “This temporary pier will provide a ship-to-shore distribution system that will further increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
