(IntegrityPress.org) – President Joe Biden’s promise to deploy U.S. military assets to construct a temporary pier in Gaza to facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid resulted in the dispatch of the General Frank S Besson from a naval base in Virginia. The Besson left for Gaza on Saturday, March 9 and will take several weeks to transit the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The vessel’s dispatch coincides with reporting from the UN that indicates a severe food and clean water crisis in Gaza.
The vessel will utilize roughly 1,000 American soldiers to construct and distribute the relief supplies. Urgency is the key talking point as people have already begun to experience starvation conditions in Gaza due to the ongoing war.
Another Spanish charity called Open Arms is waiting with 200 tons of food in Cyprus. They’re hoping to get permission from the Israelis soon. Open Arms and World Central Kitchen are also constructing a pier in Gaza with support from Israel. Israel promised to conduct security checks on the materials to help get them to those who need them.
UN agencies are suggesting over half a million people are dealing with food insecurity in Gaza. Israel has been pressured repeatedly to expand its land based shipments, but counter that most aid gets hijacked by Hamas. Some have accused Israel of intentionally delaying humanitarian shipments to make the crisis worse and force Hamas to capitulate to demands for an unconditional surrender.
Biden made the surprise announcement during the State of the Union address on March 7. He’s been hotly criticized by members of his own party for failing to secure a cease-fire and end the war which has been ongoing since last October. Many Democrats around the nation are so frustrated with Biden’s performance in the matter they’re voting “uncommitted” or “undecided” in their state’s Democratic primaries.
Giving an indication to the success of U.S. aid efforts thus far, a recent airdrop reportedly killed 5 people in Gaza after parachutes failed to deploy properly resulting in the air packages falling rapidly. They also dropped the containers over crowded areas.
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