The US military has completed the construction of a temporary artificial port to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip by sea, but it cannot be installed at its designated location at present due to adverse weather conditions, the Pentagon announced yesterday, Tuesday.
Faced with delays and obstacles posed by Israel in the delivery of humanitarian aid via land routes to the Palestinian enclave, US President Joe Biden announced a plan for the construction of a temporary artificial port in early March.
The construction cost was expected to be around $320 million.
“The construction of the two sections of the artificial port (…) has been completed,” and now they need to be transported to the location where they will be placed, said Sabrina Singh, deputy spokesperson for the US Department of Defense, to accredited journalists.
“Strong winds and high waves” prevailed yesterday, making it “dangerous” to place these elements at the designated location, she clarified.
The artificial port and US warships involved in the operation to build it “are still at the port of Ashdod” in Israel, she noted.
Work was transferred to Ashdod due to weather conditions last week. When the weather permits, the port will be placed on a coastline of the enclave by Israeli military forces to avoid the deployment of US forces.
Washington also deemed “unacceptable” the closure by Israeli armed forces of two of the main crossings through which humanitarian aid enters the enclave, in Rafah and Kerem Shalom, according to a White House spokesperson.
“The crossing points that closed must be reopened; it is unacceptable that they closed,” said Karine Jean-Pierre, according to whom Kerem Shalom is expected to reopen today.
The war broke out on October 7 when members of Hamas’ military wing launched an unprecedented raid from the Gaza Strip into southern areas of Israeli territory, during which 1,170 people lost their lives, mostly civilians, according to a tally by the French news agency based on official Israeli data.
In Israel’s large-scale military operation in the Palestinian enclave in the Gaza Strip, with the declared aim of “eradicating” Hamas, at least 34,789 people have lost their lives to date, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement’s health ministry.
