Four US Army vessels carrying about 100 American troops departed Virginia on Tuesday with equipment to build a temporary port on Gaza’s coast, AFP reported.
US officials say the idea of the port is to get more aid into Gaza, where the entire population is facing food shortages and children are starving to death. President Biden is taking the extreme measure instead of pressuring Israel to allow more aid into the Strip by cutting military assistance.
According to a report from The Jerusalem Post, the idea to build the port actually came from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who proposed it to Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in October. Under the US plan, the aid shipments will go through Cyprus and will be subject to Israeli inspection, meaning they can be turned away.
The port isn’t expected to be completed for 60 days, and many Palestinians could starve to death in that time. A total of 1,000 US troops will be deployed to build the pier, which puts them at risk of being targeted by Hamas.
“We expect the pier to be fully operational in approximately 60 days which will be able to facilitate the delivery of about 2 million meals per day,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said.
The Pentagon insists there will be no US “boots on the ground” but acknowledged the risk of them coming under attack, which would likely lead to a significant escalation in US involvement in Israel’s genocidal war.
When asked last week if the Pentagon was worried about Hamas firing on US troops, Ryder said, “Look, I mean, that’s certainly a risk, again, but if Hamas truly does care about the Palestinian people, then again, one would hope that this international mission to deliver aid to people who need it would be able to happen unhindered.”
Some are saying this is a covert way of getting boots on the ground. And people are starving with this message: “Just hang on a bit longer; it will only take us two months to build this port and send in food and other essentials.”
Surrrre, that port’s for helping the Palestinians. I bet it’s just the beginning of getting supplies to the Israelis to start their resort-building and aid with all their 3rd temple objectives.
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