عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

How the US Military is Building a Floating Dock for Urgently Needed Aid to Gaza

Smoke raises as humanitarian aid is airdropped over the northern part of the Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot in southern Israel, 07 March 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Smoke raises as humanitarian aid is airdropped over the northern part of the Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot in southern Israel, 07 March 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
TT
TT

How the US Military is Building a Floating Dock for Urgently Needed Aid to Gaza

Smoke raises as humanitarian aid is airdropped over the northern part of the Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot in southern Israel, 07 March 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Smoke raises as humanitarian aid is airdropped over the northern part of the Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot in southern Israel, 07 March 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

Even before President Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union address the plans for providing aid to Gaza by sea, the Army’s 7th Transportation Brigade and other units were scrambling to pull equipment together.
They received their orders before the speech: Build a floating dock off the Gaza coast to provide food and other desperately needed assistance to residents of Gaza. The aid is needed because Israel has sharply restricted land routes into Gaza, slowing the flow of aid to a trickle, The Associated Press said.
It’s a complex operation, involving as many as 1,000 US troops, and it won’t happen overnight. Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters it will take weeks for this to come together. Some officials say it will take about two months. And beyond the logistical challenges, the operation will depend on Israel’s cooperation, which isn’t assured.
A look at what’s known about the operation.
WHY BUILD A FLOATING PIER? In the five months since the Hamas group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage, Israel's military has battered the territory, killing more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The result of the Israel-Hamas war is a devastating humanitarian catastrophe.
The UN says virtually all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are struggling to find food, and more than a half-million currently face starvation. Many people have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive.
Getting in food, medical supplies and other aid has been difficult, if not impossible at times, due to the ongoing hostilities and struggles to coordinate with the Israeli military, which has blocked routes and slowed deliveries due to inspections.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid have to drive from the Rafah crossing with Egypt or the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, both on the southern edge of Gaza, through the conflict zone to reach the largely cut-off areas in the north.
It's been frustrating for the Biden administration as its efforts to step up aid to Gaza have been impeded by the obstacles posed by Israel, its close ally.
Last week, the US began airdrops of aid for Gaza. But that can provide only a limited amount of aid and may not reach those who need it.
In his address Thursday, Biden directed the military to construct a temporary pier on Gaza's coast "that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters.”
Biden said the pier will “enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.”
ASSEMBLED LIKE LEGOS According to defense officials, the 7th Transportation Brigade based at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia is already starting to pull together what's called the Joint Logistics Over The Shore (JLOTS) equipment and watercraft.
It's like a huge LEGO system — an array of 40-foot-long (12-meter-long) pieces of steel that can be locked together to form a pier and causeway. The causeway would be up to 1,800 feet (nearly 550 meters) long and two lanes wide.
And in the coming days, US troops will begin loading the equipment onto a large Military Sealift Command vessel. The equipment will include the steel pieces and smaller tug vessels that can help move things into place.
That loading isn't likely to start until sometime next week, and once done the ship will set off across the Atlantic Ocean with members of the 7th Transportation Brigade aboard. A number of other military units from the US and abroad will also be participating in the mission.
Ryder said the troops will build an offshore pier where large ships can offload food and supplies. Then smaller military vessels will transport that aid from the floating pier to the temporary causeway that will be driven into the ground at the shoreline.
Biden said Thursday that there will be no US forces on the ground in Gaza for the mission, which will likely involve other allies, contractors and aid agencies.
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES? A key question will be what Israel is prepared to do to support the aid delivery effort.
The US airdrops have been an unusual workaround by the Biden administration, which for months has appealed to Israel to increase the delivery of aid to Gaza and provide access and protection for trucks carrying the goods.
According to Biden, the Israeli government will maintain security at the pier and protect it from any attacks by Hamas. And there may also be a need for crowd control, in case residents try to storm the pier to get the desperately needed food.
While officials said they don't likely need security on the sea route to Israel there will be a requirement for allies and private ships to deliver the aid along the maritime corridor.
It is also unclear who will be unloading the aid at the dock and moving it to shore.
WHAT ARE OTHER NATIONS AID GROUPS DOING? Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides offered the use of his country’s port in Larnaca months ago for a possible sea route for aid deliveries to Gaza, a 230-mile (370-kilometer) journey. Cyprus invited authorities from Israel, the US and other European countries to join Cypriot agents in vetting all shipments so nothing could be used by Hamas against Israel. The offer received strong interest from the Americans, Europeans and others, and extended planning followed.
The European Commission said Friday that a ship bearing humanitarian aid was preparing to leave Cyprus and head for Gaza.
The vessel belonging to Spain’s Open Arms aid group will make a pilot voyage to test the maritime corridor in the coming days. The ship has been waiting at Larnaca for permission to deliver food aid from World Central Kitchen, a US charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés.
World Central Kitchen prepared the boat in Cyprus with 200 tons of rice, flour and proteins that will soon be ready to leave for Gaza, and an additional 500 tons of aid is in Cyprus and ready to follow, spokeswoman Chloe Mata Crane said in a statement.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Yarmouk Camp: Gaza-like Destruction, Uncertainty Amid Temporary Decisions

The destruction within Syria’s Yarmouk camp mirrors the scenes of war in Gaza (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The destruction within Syria’s Yarmouk camp mirrors the scenes of war in Gaza (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT
TT

Yarmouk Camp: Gaza-like Destruction, Uncertainty Amid Temporary Decisions

The destruction within Syria’s Yarmouk camp mirrors the scenes of war in Gaza (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The destruction within Syria’s Yarmouk camp mirrors the scenes of war in Gaza (Asharq Al-Awsat)

This is not Gaza. It is the Yarmouk camp in Syria.
Simply reading the sign repeatedly at the entrance of the Palestinian camp near Damascus is not enough to cement this truth in the visitor’s mind.
One must constantly remind themselves, with every step and glance, that this is not Gaza, but the Yarmouk camp, just 18 kilometers from Umayyad Square. The camp faced systematic destruction and a long siege, leading to the deaths of over 150 residents, mostly children, from hunger and thirst.
The few families who returned after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime or in recent years are barely visible among the vast destruction, which stretches beyond what the eye or camera can capture.
A passerby emerging from the rubble or children returning from their makeshift classes at the nearby UNRWA school might seem like a scene from a film.
But this is the daily reality for the survivors.
“There are no services in the camp,” locals told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“No electricity, running water, internet, or basic healthcare—just ruined buildings, endless destruction, and dust.”
The memory of the starvation siege still lingers in Yarmouk.
A young man who survived the 2018 siege spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity.
“I remember the first piece of bread I ate after days of hunger. The taste never leaves me. After nearly a week without food or water, I remembered seeing a bag of bread in our neighbors' fridge,” he recalled.
“I mustered the strength to go and found the fridge, burned by airstrikes, still attached to the bread. Only the ends of the loaves had survived, though they were moldy... I ate it like a feast.”
The young man then showed old photos of himself, looking pale and thin, almost like a different person. Like him, many men, including heads of households, feared death or arrest if they went to food distribution points. These supplies, trickling in from local factions and the UN, came with great risk. Many "humanitarian corridors" became traps for men and young people.
Since 2011, the camp has endured military targeting, airstrikes, and intense battles. But in 2018, Yarmouk faced one of its darkest moments. After the 2011 uprising, many Palestinians supported it, including activists and Hamas members.
In response, Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–General Command, along with other pro-Assad factions, launched a violent attack on the camp and Free Syrian Army groups.
Barrel bombs fell on Yarmouk and nearby areas like Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Al-Tadamon, and Yalda. The situation worsened with the presence of a ISIS stronghold in the southern part of the camp, connecting to those areas.
Founded in 1957, Yarmouk camp, covering around 2.5 kilometers, was once a bustling commercial center, home to nearly 1.5 million people, including Syrians, Palestinians, and some Iraqis. Today, fewer than 8,000 people remain, according to UNRWA estimates.
While many compare Yarmouk’s current situation to Gaza, the issue extends beyond the camp. It is one of 15 Palestinian camps in Syria, with over eight suffering severe destruction, all needing rebuilding and support like Yarmouk, as well as other damaged Syrian neighborhoods and areas around Damascus.
Residents face total neglect, uncertain about their future, the fate of missing family members, and the condition of their homes. Their biggest complaint is a sense of being abandoned, with no social, service, or political support.
They feel like orphans of the former regime, armed groups, and the revolution all at once.
Even the Palestinian factions that once controlled the camp now live in Damascus's middle-class and upscale neighborhoods, with some having moved to Beirut.
For years, civilians were trapped between ISIS, other factions, and the regime. Sources confirm that ISIS in Damascus was founded by a former prisoner from Yalda, released by the regime after the 2011 protests.
He was joined by an Iraqi officer living in Yarmouk, both of whom defected from Al-Nusra Front.
For nearly two years, ISIS expanded into nearby areas like Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Al-Tadamon, and the southern part of Yarmouk, forming a large network of smaller extremist groups that fought and defeated the Free Syrian Army at the time.
During this period, ISIS militants were treated at the government-run Al-Mahini Hospital, later becoming the first armed group to negotiate with the former regime in southern Damascus. They left in organized convoys of buses to the desert of Sweida after surrendering military checkpoints, while Yarmouk residents remained fully besieged.
Asharq Al-Awsat passed the site of the “Ali Al-Wahsh” checkpoint, where a massacre killed 1,200 Yarmouk civilians (according to documented figures).
The worst part of this massacre was not just the number of victims, but the deception used to lure residents with promises of a safe passage for aid after the siege. Once there, men were executed, and women and children were forcibly displaced. Many residents, fearing for their lives, chose to stay hungry rather than risk going for help.
Diaa Suleiman, who lived through that time as a teenager and is now a father of three, said: “After all we went through, we’ve been betrayed. We are completely abandoned. No one looks at us, not even those who caused this. We need protection. We need answers... We need to know where we stand.”
An unofficial meeting, details of which were leaked, took place between Yarmouk faction leaders and representatives of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The agreement was that Palestinian fighters would hand over their weapons to the new regime in Syria, following a broader call for all factions to do the same.
While Palestinian weapons in Yarmouk were never used against Israel but instead in internal conflicts to support Assad’s regime, their removal now seems like the least difficult demand.
The value of these weapons has completely disappeared, especially since Yarmouk is now empty and destroyed. Restoring any authority there will require rebuilding both the infrastructure and the people.
“The major challenge ahead is how to define the legal and civil status of Palestinians and protect them through the law,” Ayman Abu Hashem, general coordinator of the Palestinian-Syrian Assembly (Maseer), told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Unlike most Palestinian refugee communities, Syrian law grants Palestinians the right to work, own property, and enjoy all civil rights, except voting. However, it excludes those who arrived after the 1967 war or from Jordan after 1970, and those constitute a significant number.
While most Palestinians in Syria see themselves as also Syrian, Hashem said their main demand is to gain Syrian citizenship while keeping their Palestinian identity.
“We don’t want to be seen as giving up the right of return or our connection to Palestine. But we and our children deserve Syrian citizenship, like anyone born and raised in a country, becoming a dual citizen,” explained Hashem.