The Navy will help defend the pier being built by the U.S. military to deliver aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, the Pentagon announced, according to Military.com.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said two destroyers will be part of the security plan for the operation to defend the pier, which will be completed soon, along with thousands of Israeli soldiers, ships, and planes.
The announcement came as the safety of American military forces off the Gaza coast remains a concern amid the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization.
Although Ryder said last week that construction of the floating pier and the causeway were completed and "positioned offshore at the port of Ashdod [near Gaza], awaiting final movement," conditions in the Mediterranean Sea have since prevented the military from taking the almost 550-yard causeway and driving it into the beach in Gaza.
A senior defense official said the first shipload of aid aboard the cargo ship USNS Roy P. Benavidez, which has been readied to go as soon as the floating causeway is in place, will be made up of 475 pallets totaling 170 tons of food, enough to feed 11,000 adults and children for one month.
A senior military official who spoke with reporters last month said the initial throughput of the effort is expected to start at "about 90 trucks a day... and then quickly scale up to 150 trucks a day."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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