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Pier site in Gaza comes under fire during UN visit
A UN spokesperson says a UN team in the Gaza Strip visiting the site for a pier and the staging area for maritime aid operations had to seek shelter in a bunker “for some time” yesterday after the area came under fire.
Two rounds landed about 100 meters (300 feet) away, but there were no injuries and the team was eventually able to continue the tour, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
The pier has been criticised by the UN and aid agencies as a complicated workaround for delivering aid via existing land routes, as calls on Israel to allow sufficient aid into the Gaza Strip through its land borders continue.
US says Gaza aid pier construction has begun
Pentagon spokesperson Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters that construction of the pier, announced in March by US President Joe Biden, has started. The pier will receive ships carrying desperately needed aid for the people of Gaza, thousands of whom are facing imminent famine.
“I can confirm that US military vessels, to include the USNS Benavidez, have begun to construct the initial stages of the temporary pier and causeway at sea,” Ryder told reporters.
The UN has warned Gaza faces famine and has complained of “overwhelming obstacles” to getting aid into and distributing it around the enclave.
Ryder said the Pentagon was tracking some type of mortar attack in Gaza that caused minimal damage in the staging area for the pier. The UN stated earlier today that one of its teams, inspecting the staging area, had to take cover for several hours when bombs struck nearby.
Ryder added that US forces had not started moving anything to that area yet and there were no US forces on the ground.
6 months late, behind schedule, inefficient, very expensive virtue signalling.
But we love our acronyms!
Israeli military says it is providing CENTCOM with security, logistics for maritime aid initiative
The Israeli military says it has approved collaborative efforts for the Joint Logisitics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) initiative led by the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). It said it would provide security and logistics support for the JLOTS initiative, which includes a temporary floating pier to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
