Four US warships with about 100 soldiers left the coast of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. and loading of supplies to create a temporary port for distribution of humanitarian aid.
The effort is part of U.S. efforts to increase aid to civilians in the besieged Palestinian territory, where aid by truck has been cut amid intense Israeli military operations and there are severe shortages of food, water and medicine.
The mission's lead ship — a hulking gray logistical support ship — pulls away from a military base in Virginia, playing the Imperial March from the sci-fi movie Star Wars over its loudspeakers.
Three smaller ships followed. They would make a nearly 30-day voyage to the eastern Mediterranean.
The new facilities include a platform at sea to transfer humanitarian aid from larger ships to smaller vessels and a dock to unload aid on land.
The project is expected to be operational within 60 days.Brigadier General Brad Hinson told reporters.
“Once the mission is operating at its full capacity, it can bring two million food items ashore a day,” he said.
American officials assured that This mission does not involve the deployment of “troops on the ground”.Even if the military has access to the shore during construction, it must be anchored to the shore.
Hinson didn't disclose the safety features or what they would do to anchor this anchor.
The current conflict erupted five months ago after an attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israeli soil. 1,160 people died, mostly civiliansAccording to the agency account AFP Based on Israeli data.
In response, Israel launched a retaliatory military operation that has so far killed 31,112 people in Gaza alone, according to data from Hamas terrorists who rule the Palestinian border.
To try to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, The first vessel was chartered by Spanish NGO Open Arms and loaded with 200 tons of food. It sailed from Cyprus to Gaza on Tuesday via a sea route declared by the European Union (EU).
The United States and other countries have introduced water and food packages from airplanes.
A spokesperson for the North American Department of Defense said, Pat Ryder, He described that this Tuesday, along with the Royal Jordanian Air Force, US forces distributed about 5,280 pounds (about 2,400 kilograms) of food, including flour, rice, pasta and canned food.
But the UN and various NGOs insist that sending aid by sea or air cannot replace supplies by land.
On Monday, the State Department highlighted that while Benjamin Netanyahu's government has taken steps to allow humanitarian aid, it has not done enough. So he insisted that more should be done.
The United Nations has estimated that a quarter of the population in the Gaza Strip is at risk of starvation due to the humanitarian disaster unleashed by the Israeli offensive.
(With information from AFP and EFE)
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