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Middle East conflict

US installs temporary pier in Gaza to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries, CENTCOM says

The first shipment of humanitarian assistance is expected to move ashore in the coming days

NEW YORK, May 16. /TASS/. Personnel of the US Central Command (USCENTCOM) have set up a temporary floating pier at the beach in the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian cargo.

"Today at approximately 7:40 a.m. (Gaza time) United States Central Command personnel supporting the humanitarian mission to deliver additional humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in need anchored a temporary pier to the beach in Gaza," reads the statement published by USCENTCOM on the social network X. US troops did not enter Gaza as part of this effort, it stressed.

The first shipment of humanitarian assistance is expected to move ashore in the coming days. The UN will coordinate the distribution of cargoes in the Gaza Strip.

The Pentagon reported earlier that US servicemen have started building a temporary port, which will be located a few kilometers from the northern coast of Gaza. According to the plan, humanitarian aid will first be loaded onto ships in Cyprus, from there it will be transported to the port. The aid will be transferred to auxiliary vessels and transported to a designated pier. After that, the cargo will be trucked to the people of Gaza.

On March 7, US President Joe Biden announced that Washington planned to establish a temporary port in the Gaza Strip for maritime deliveries of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave. The plan included the construction of a 550-meter floating pier to offload humanitarian supplies. About 1,000 US servicemen would be involved in operating the platform. The Pentagon assured that they would not go ashore from the pier.

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