Posted on 03/11/2024 10:34:48 AM PDT by SJackson
Defense minister touts internationally backed route as key to making sure aid gets to civilians and not terror group as Spanish ship in Cyprus loaded with food readies pilot voyage
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant backed an international plan to provide aid to Gaza via a temporary seaport, saying the initiative would help speed along Israel’s goal of toppling the Hamas terror group.
His comments came as the US military said a vessel had been dispatched to the region with equipment to construct a dock meant to bolster plans to begin delivering aid to Gaza by sea, as a boat filled with aid idled off the coast of Cyprus.
“The process is designed to bring aid directly to the residents and thus continue the collapse of Hamas’s rule in Gaza,” Gallant said while touring the Gaza coast from a Dvora-class navy patrol boat.
Officials from the UN and various relief organizations say food and other humanitarian aid have been slow to get into the Strip and distributed, especially to northern Gaza, hampered by Israeli inspections, the location of crossings in the south of the Strip, and desperate Gazans, as well as looters, picking trucks clean before they can reach the north part of the enclave.
Amid warnings of famine, the US, Jordan and others have stepped up efforts to get in aid by air and now sea, though UN officials insist ground deliveries remain the most efficient way to deliver relief.
Gallant said aid deliveries by sea would help “ensure that supplies reach here for those who need them and not for those who don’t.”
“We will bring the aid through a maritime route that is coordinated with the US on the security and humanitarian side, with the assistance of the UAE on the civil side, and appropriate inspection in Cyprus, and we will bring goods imported by international organizations with American assistance,” he said.
The US Central Command said Sunday that a first US Army vessel, the General Frank S. Besson, left a base in Virginia on Saturday and was on its way to the Eastern Mediterranean with construction equipment, after US President Joe Biden announced plans to increase aid deliveries to the area by sea.
The new push for aid came as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was set to begin Monday in much of the world after officials in Saudi Arabia saw the crescent moon. Hopes for a new temporary ceasefire by Ramadan faded days ago with negotiations apparently stalled.
US officials said that it would likely be weeks before the pier is operational. Construction is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars and take up to 60 days, The New York Times reported.
Gaza’s waters are also considered too shallow for the large barges that would be needed to ship in the cargo.
International aid groups do not appear to be planning to wait for the construction of the US dock to try out the sea route.
A ship belonging to Spanish aid group Open Arms and carrying 200 tons of food aid was expected to make a pilot voyage to test the corridor “as soon as possible” but not Sunday, said spokesperson Linda Roth with partner organization World Central Kitchen, a charity that delivers food to areas that suffered natural disasters.
The ship in Cyprus is expected to take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location in Gaza.
A member of the charity said on X that once the ship’s barge reaches Gaza, aid would be offloaded by a crane, placed on trucks and driven to northern Gaza, which was the first focus of Israel’s military offensive.
The sea corridor is backed by the European Union together with the United States, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The European Commission has said that UN agencies and the Red Cross will play a role
The US announced the plan for the sea route and dock following an incident in northern Gaza in which over 100 Palestinians were killed while trying to access an aid truck. It is unclear how many of the casualties died because of a stampede or Israeli fire.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, at least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. These numbers cannot be independently verified, and the ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says that women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. Israel says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas operatives since the beginning of the war.
War broke out on October 7 after Hamas terrorists killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostages. Israel’s air and ground offensive has devastated large parts of Gaza and displaced about 80 percent of the population of 2.3 million.
Who is stupid enough to believe this? It does the exact opposite - even if Hamas doesn't simply confiscate all the aid at gunpoint (either at the dock or 2 blocks inland) for its own fighters. Idiots.
Let the people that danced and cheered as innocent hostages were dragged through the streets starve until they start ratting out Hamas and turning on them. That's how this ends. Not by propping up Hamas while pretending you are somehow doing otherwise.
They are going to use it to extract terrorists to the US. PERIOD. if you cant see this coming, you really need to sit down and stop talking and start listening to people smarter than you.
This makes not sense. An expensive and complicated new way to resupply Hamas, when they already have constant resupply from the existing land corridor.
Do they think Hamas is afraid of water?
The World needs a place where toxic people raised on a diet of hate can be dropped off far away from anyone they mean to harm.
in the middle of the ocean
Sounds like gallant is an idiot.
for anyone who may not realize it, anything Gallant or Lapid say is suspect
they’re leftist activists and whatever they say should be verified whenever possible
this statement from Gallant sounds irrational, idiotic
the thing for Gallant to do is to help defeat Hamas and end the foreign terrorist Occupation of the Gaza district, NOT to feed and cloth and coddle them
Yep.
The pier will be used to evacuate Gazans, probably most to the US because Obama-Biden can’t resist ‘refugees’ and no one else wants them.
Exactly.
i hear hamas tastes like chicken.
There is more than enough capacity to ship aid through ground routes in Israel.
The Biden Administration seems to want to circumvent Israeli scrutiny of the aid delivery process. They are probably setting up a plan to evacuate Hamas fighters from the Gaza via the US opened sea route so the terrorists can exit the region without Israeli involvement.
This suggests that a Biden Admin US brokered and enabled evacuation of the remaining Hamas leadership and terrorists is in the works
A politically perfect plan - Israel is happy because Hamas is gone and Biden is happy because the Hamas loving Democrat base will be mollified and the swing state of Michigan will be secured - possibly by the added votes of the new arrival Hamas terrorists in Dearborn. .
Particularly since they've reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing and are building a new one to central Gaza. The problem seems to be distribution of aid once it crosses. I think only Israel can protect the aid and distribution points, and Hamas can simply take the aid from individuals when they leave and sell it on the black market. Humanitarian groups, no UN as they're combatants, still need protection. The "port" won't be any different, though I understand Israel will be providing the land based security.
Until Hamas is destroyed, there's no way of providing aid to those who need it.
I think you’re wrong. Despite being leftists, I think Gallant and Gantz are on board with the objective of destroying Hamas. I’d point to the lack of “leaks” from Gantz’s visit to DC which tells me the administration made no progress in stirring trouble up in the war cabinet. Both have extensive military experience and probably a far better grasp of the situation than anyone in our administration’s circle of influence. As to Gallant and the Port, this was a done thing before the SOU speech. Israel already knew they had the job of inspecting ships in Cypress and providing security around the “port”. Probably the best they can get. Still no one to distribute the aid outside of Hamas’ grasp. Much of what Hamas’ steals is resold in public markets, unaffordable to many. Maybe Joe should just drop ten dollar bills over Gaza allowing those in need to buy food from Hamas.
Which tends to support the contention that the pier is actually going to be used to evacuate Hamas in a politically acceptable fashion without a footprint in the Sinai or on Israeli territory so aid can be delivered to Gaza without Hamas stealing it
Hoping you’re right. That “port” I’d both unnecessary for any genuine “aid” and a longer- term danger that Israel will have to shut down as soon as the Fakestinian terrorists start bringing more weapons in
They can evacuate Hamas members by towing them behind a boat near Eilat. Yum, yum!
Unlikely Israel is going to allow Hamas to be evacuated as in Arafat’s PLO in Lebanon. Presumably they’ll have ground control control, and I suspect control at sea since Joe hasn’t announced he’s sending a naval force, just construction. Then again in one of Obama’s elections you might remember phone calls being made from Gaza, and t shirts and such sold with no real consequences.
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