Navy sending sailors and ships to help build Gaza aid pier
By Diana Stancy
Mar 20, 06:30 PM
The Navy is sending hundreds of sailors and multiple ships to help construct a humanitarian aid pier off the Gaza Strip. Soldiers are shown here building such a causeway off the coast of Australia in 2023. (Army)
Navy cargo ships Roy P. Benavidez, 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo, and 1st Lt. Baldomero Lopez are poised to head to the eastern Mediterranean Sea with more than 250 sailors to help build a humanitarian aid pier off the Gaza Strip, Navy officials confirmed Wednesday.
Sailors will join at least five Army vessels taking part in the plan that the Pentagon says will use the Joint Logistics Over-The-Shore, or JLOTS, capability to construct a floating dock-like staging point, as well as a pier extending to land, for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians, according to Navy officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Roughly 260 sailors from Naval Beach Group 1 will set up a 72-foot-wide by 270-foot-long floating dock three miles off Gaza.
They will also operate the causeway ferries connected to the pier, and will offload cargo into trucks that will deliver aid to Gaza, Navy officials said.
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2024/03/20/navy-sending-sailors-and-ships-to-help-build-gaza-aid-pier/#:~:text=Roughly%20260%20sailors%20from%20Naval,to%20Gaza%2C%20Navy%20officials%20said.