To avert famine in Gaza, aid deliveries must increase dramatically. But the waters off the Gaza Strip are too shallow for large ships. So the USA builds an artificial harbor off the coast.
International pressure on Israel is growing. In mid-March, a group of experts warned of an impending famine catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. There is a risk of mass death, particularly in the north, without a drastic increase in food deliveries.
The import of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip has improved in recent weeks. In order to avert famine, however, a further increase in aid deliveries to the war zone is essential. The international community is therefore calling on Israel to open additional routes for the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip.
In view of the humanitarian emergency in the Gaza Strip, the USA is now preparing a new route for the delivery of aid supplies in the Mediterranean. The problem: The waters near the coast of the Gaza Strip are too shallow for large ships. Satellite images show how the United States is now using navy ships to build a floating platform off the coast of Gaza on which aid supplies can be loaded onto smaller ships.
The deliveries are loaded onto trucks on the platform
The floating port aims to enable large deliveries of urgently needed relief goods to Gaza: First, the goods are brought to Cyprus by air freight or sea transport. From there, merchant ships transport them to the floating pier off the coast of Gaza. The delivery is transferred to trucks on the floating platform. These trucks are then taken by smaller ships to a newly built port facility on the beach in the Gaza Strip.
The facility is currently located 11 kilometers from the Gaza coast. It is still unclear whether and when the floating installation will be moved closer to the Gaza Strip. However, satellite images show that a new port facility on the coast southwest of Gaza City has already been built in recent weeks. The entire construction project is scheduled to be completed in early May.
The plan is for aid organizations to pick up the relief goods at the port facility that has been built and then distribute them to the population. The Israeli army has announced to provide support with the logistics and security of the new aid route.
However, the army recently shocked the international aid community when it apparently accidentally fired on a convoy belonging to the aid organization World Central Kitchen. Seven people lost their lives. The ongoing threat from Hamas represents another security problem. According to Israeli sources, mortar shells were fired at the newly built port facility during a visit by UN employees.
UN aid organizations assert that the newly planned sea route is no replacement for relief supplies transported by land. Aid organizations must be able to deliver food, medicine and other supplies to any part of the Gaza Strip safely and through all possible routes and crossings. The danger of famine has not yet been averted with the construction of the floating platform.