Pentagon says it would take up to 60 days to construct floating aid pier in Gaza

WASHINGTON

The Pentagon said Friday it will take up to two months to construct a floating pier in Gaza that was announced by US President Joe Biden.

"We're working to set this up as quickly as possible, but we expect that it will take several weeks to plan and execute," spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters.

He said it would take more than 1,000 US troops and likely up to 60 days to deploy the forces and construct the causeway and the pier.

There will be no American boots on the ground, Ryder stressed.

The Pentagon said it expects to provide more than 2 million meals to Gazans per day.

"Now we're in the process of identifying sourcing and in some cases preparing forces to deploy," he said.

The 7th Transportation Brigade Expeditionary Joint Base Langley Eustis in Virginia has been tasked to support.

"Simply put, they'll establish a temporary offshore maritime pier that allows for shipping vessels to transfer cargo to smaller vessels to transport and offload cargo to a temporary causeway for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza," said Ryder.

Asked why Israel does not let humanitarian aid through border gates instead of airdropping, Ryder noted Biden's remarks that not enough aid is getting into Gaza.

"We continue to speak with our Israeli partners and others in the region about increasing the number of options for aid to get into Gaza via land. But we're also not going to wait around and so this is why you see us doing airdrops and this is why you see us now implementing this capability," he added.

Biden said Thursday that the US would set up a floating pier off the coast of Gaza for the delivery of humanitarian aid, after starting airdrops days earlier.

US CENTCOM and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a fourth combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into Gaza.

"The combined, joint operation included Jordanian provided meals and a U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft. A U.S. C-130 dropped over 11,500 meal equivalents, providing life-saving humanitarian assistance in Northern Gaza, to enable civilian access to critical aid," said CENTCOM.

Israel has launched a retaliatory offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The offensive has killed more than 30,800 victims and injured nearly 73,000 amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.