Washington:
The temporary pier being built by the US military to boost aid deliveries to Gaza will cost Washington at least $320 million, the Pentagon said on Monday.
“That's about our rough estimate right now, about $320 million,” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters, adding, “That's the initial cost for the temporary pier.”
The Pentagon announced Thursday that construction had begun on the pier and said it should be operational by early May.
At that point, the aid will be transported via commercial ships to a floating platform miles off the coast of Gaza, where it will be transferred to smaller ships, taken to the pier and trucked ashore for distribution.
The plans for the pier were first announced by US President Joe Biden in early March, when Israel suspended land aid deliveries.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza – devastated by more than six months of Israeli operations against Hamas – remains dire. A senior US government official said last week that the region's entire population of 2.2 million people faces food insecurity.
Hamas' attack on southern Israel on October 7, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,488 people, mostly women and children, in Hamas-held territory, according to the Health Ministry.
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