U.S. military ships work on ‚oating platform o
A U.S. Navy ship and several Army vessels involved in a U.S.-led e ort to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip are o shore of the enclave and building out a £oating platform for the operation that the Pentagon has said will cost at least $320 million.
Sabrina Singh, Pentagon spokesperson, said that the cost is a rough estimate for the project and includes the transportation of the equipment and pier sections from the U.S. to the coast of Gaza, as well as the construction and aid delivery operations.
Satellite photos analysed on Tuesday show the
USNS Roy Benavidez about 11 kilometre from the port on shore, where the base of operations for the project is being built by the Israeli military.
A U.S. military o¦cial conrmed late last week that the Benavidez had begun construction and that it was far enough o shore to ensure that the troops building the platform would be safe.
P.‘Operations from May’
U.S. and Israeli o¦cials have said they hope to have the £oating pier in place, the causeway attached to the shore and operations underway by early May.
Under the plan by the U.S. military, aid will be loaded onto commercial ships in Cyprus to sail to the £oating platform. The pallets will be loaded onto trucks, which will be loaded onto smaller ships that will travel to a metal, £oating two-lane causeway.
The 550-metre causeway will be attached to the shore by the Israeli Defence Forces.
The U.S. military o¦cial said an American Army engineering unit has teamed with an Israeli military enAdm.