The American artificial port supposed to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza was set up this Thursday, May 16 on the shore of the territory besieged by the Israeli army and the assistance will soon be delivered, announced an American military official.
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“ A few hours ago, the temporary port was successfully set up on a beach in Gaza said Brad Cooper of the US Middle East Command (Centcom).
“ It is expected that trucks loaded withhumanitarian aid begin to dock in the coming days », continues the Command, specifying that the aid will be given to the UN which “ will coordinate its distribution in Gaza “. This pier, with an announced cost of $320 million, according to the Pentagon, was initially scheduled to be completed on May 7.
The British Foreign Office announced on Wednesday that a ship loaded with aid had left the Cypriot port of Larnaca bound for the facility. He must unload around 100 tonnes of temporary shelter for the inhabitants of Gaza, 2.4 million people, around 70% of whom have been displaced by the war, in a territory already overpopulated and under siege for seven months.
Kerem Shalom crossing point open
In response to the bloody attack on its soil by Hamas commandos on October 7, Israel launched an offensive against the band of Gaza. International aid, strictly controlled by the Israeli authorities, was already arriving in trickles, but its entry into the Gaza Strip is now largely hampered at the two main crossing points – Kerem Shalom from Israel and Rafah from Egypt.
The Israeli army seized on May 7 on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing point, through which all the fuel essential for the operation of the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip – deprived of electrical power since the start of the Israeli offensive – and for humanitarian logistics passed.
Since then, Egypt has refused to coordinate the delivery of aid with Israel through Rafah, with the two countries blaming each other for the blockage. Closed for several days at the beginning of May after coming under Hamas rocket fire, Kerem Shalom is officially open, but humanitarian organizations say they cannot collect the aid sent there due to lack of fuel and due to fighting in the area.
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