JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, United States, March  12, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Four
US Army vessels departed a base in Virginia on Tuesday carrying about 100
soldiers and equipment they will need to build a temporary port on Gaza's coast
for urgently needed aid deliveries.

The first -- a hulking gray-painted watercraft known as a Logistics Support
Vessel -- slowly churned away from the pier at Joint Base Langley-Eustis as
"The Imperial March" from "Star Wars" played over its loudspeaker system.

It was followed by three smaller vessels that will also make the roughly
30-day trip to the eastern Mediterranean for the port mission -- part of US
efforts to boost assistance for Gaza as Israel delays deliveries of aid by
ground.

The new facility -- which will consist of an offshore platform for
transshipment of aid from larger to smaller vessels and a pier to bring it
ashore -- is expected to be up and running "at the 60-day mark," US Army
Brigadier General Brad Hinson told journalists.

"Once we get fully mission-capable, we will be able to push up to two
million meals, or two million bottles of water, ashore each day," he said.

US officials have said the effort will not involve "boots on the ground" in
Gaza, but American troops will come close to the beleaguered coastal territory
as they construct the pier, which has to be anchored to the shore.

- Crisis in Gaza -

"I'm not going to go into the specifics of who we're working with in order
to anchor the pier but we will have some assistance," said Hinson, who also
declined to discuss security measures.

A total of some 500 troops from the 7th Transportation Battalion
(Expeditionary) will take part in the operation, he said, describing it as "the
premier watercraft unit in our Army."

"They can provide sustainment support over the water in austere
environments. They are trained to do this, and they've gone on many exercises
to be ready to provide this capability," Hinson said.

Gaza has faced relentless bombardment by Israel since Hamas launched a
cross-border attack on October 7 that resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of
them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory operations in Hamas-controlled Gaza have killed 31,184
Palestinian, mostly women and children, according to the territory's health
ministry.

The amount of aid brought into Gaza by truck has plummeted during five
months of war, and Gazans are facing dire shortages of food, water and medicine.

The United States has carried out a series of airdrops to deliver aid this
month, but the number of people in need of assistance in Gaza is much greater
than can be fed by drops alone.