US military pier starts moving towards Gaza

The U.S. military has started moving a pier towards the Gaza coast, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, one of the last steps before the launch of a maritime port promised by President Joe Biden to speed the flow of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

The U.S. military opted to pre-assemble the maritime pier at Israeli port of Ashdod earlier this month due to weather conditions at the Gaza site where it will now be installed.

Officials hope the pier can be anchored to the coast of Gaza and aid can start flowing in the coming days.

“Earlier today, components of the temporary pier … along with military vessels involved in its construction, began moving from the Port of Ashdod towards Gaza, where it will be anchored to the beach to assist in the delivery of international humanitarian aid,” a U.S. official said.

lagomorphlecture,

Wtf is even the fucking point? If we’re gonna give Israel the weapons to genocide them with one hand why even bother with this fake bullshit “aid” with the other hand? Is anyone fooled by this?

gmtom,

International politics is complicated. Would you actually rather them just let civilians starve to death as well?

mlg,
@mlg@lemmy.world avatar

That is what they are already doing by allowing Israel to keep the border crossings closed.

This pier is as useless as letting the civilians starve to death because none of that aid will reach them because Israel only agreed to the port if they also get to dictate what goes through.

ie they built a new a closed on arrival marine aid route that will likely get bombed by the IDF anyway.

Crack0n7uesday,

Bombing a US controlled port would be pretty close to a declaration of war against the US. Israel isn’t that dumb.

nickwitha_k,

The USS Liberty: “Am I a joke to you?!”

EchoCT,

Wouldn’t be the first time. Hell, wouldn’t be the first time they murdered Americans this genocide either.

JustZ, (edited )

Letting them? It’s Israel’s border.

Yes Israel dictates what’s goes through. Gaza* has proven again and again that they cannot be trusted to just import whatever they want, because the corrupt everything Hamas touched and turn virtually all civilian infrastructure into instrumentalities of terrorism.

If your neighbor was suicide bombing you and rocket attacking you and mass shooting you, do you think you’d let the UPS truck in to deliver whatever they want? No. You would not. The police would come and if they didn’t surrender they’d level the house.

But that’s not even what’s happening here. Gaza opened new water desalinization plants just last month. Israel let the materials and personnel in.

Edit: I should say, Gaza didn’t build new shit, western charity built new water desalinization plants Gaza.

mlg,
@mlg@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah man I’m sure Hamas is going to weaponize…

checks notes

bottled water, pre-packaged food, and wheat.

Israel is full blocking aid trucks which they can easily inspect. Even the few they were originally letting through were attacked to scare off NGOs and the UN. Their demand to search the packages is just a ruse they can use to halt the flow.

There is a ridiculously low chance Hamas has been successful in smuggling anything related to weapons for the past 6 months via the aid.

Meanwhile the remaining Gazans are starving to death because Israel has already decided all Palestinians are Hamas and must be eradicated from the area.

The USA could at anytime use its insane MIC leverage to force Israel to let aid in, but they won’t because they see Israel as a prime ally.

JustZ,

They haven’t. And that aid is flowing. Aid is going up not down, except for at one port of entry, shut down because it’s a warzone. I don’t know, how about tell us where Hamas is hiding and who their accomplices are, and then everyone who isn’t an insane religious zealot bent on killing Jews because they don’t like the operating hours at various piles of rocks, go about their days?

The famine has been “imminent” since November and it hasn’t happened. Because aid has been flowing since like day 5.

caboose2006,

Found the paid IDF shill

JustZ,

Delusional.

caboose2006,

Takes one to know one ;)

fuckingkangaroos,

This isn’t middle school

caboose2006,

Really? You whinge like one

JustZ,

Israel is a prime ally and essential to long term stability in the middle east.

The people in the IDF responsible for the flour massacre and the world kitchen truck are gone. Aid is flowing. And it’s going to rain in from America’s port, bet, mf.

capital,

No, that stuff they’ll take and sell to citizens.

Keeponstalin, (edited )

Why do you blame the occupation on the occupied? Do you think the existence of the Warsaw ghettos were the fault of the Jewish prisoners too?

The escalation in violent resistance to occupation in the OPTs over the decades has been a reaction to the increasing enforcement of the occupation, not the other way around.

Israel has had control of Gaza with the occupation and blockade since 1967, enforcing policies for the de-development of Gaza’s economy. The Israeli imposed closure on Gaza began in 1991, temporarily, becoming permanent in 1993. The barrier began around Gaza around 1972.

With the Blockade, Israel controls all the sea, airspace, and border. Fishermen can’t fish outside of 6-12 nautical miles before getting arrested or shot. Israel controls all travel in and out of Gaza. Over 60% of people were already food insecure before October 7th because Israel deliberately restricts food entering Gaza. Israel’s policies of Water control left everyone in Gaza with half the water of the emergency WHO standards, now significantly less. Internationally, Gaza is recognized as Occupied.

Israel has shut off all food, water, electricity, and aid to Gaza. Because as occupiers they have that power over occupied territories. They’ve also repeatedly targeted refugee camps, hospitals, safe zones, and aid trucks.

“I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly"

  • Minister of Defense - Yoav Gallant

The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-Development - Third Edition by Sara M. Roy

Israel claims it is no longer occupying the Gaza Strip. What does international law say?

The Gaza Strip − why the history of the densely populated enclave is key to understanding the current conflict

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4738f069-fbe8-447b-914d-14ca4023d403.jpeg

JustZ,

Wow the rhetoric of Yoav Gallant is so compelling, except none of those things happened. There’s diesel generators all over the place. There are new water treatment plants opening just last month. You got tricked by Qatari news and non profits looking for donations.

Also, it is a war zone. Maybe don’t let terrorists build tunnels under everything and then nobody will have to blow everything up. 98% of Gaza evacuated and are alive.

JustZ,

They could have chosen peace. Nope. Inconcievable.

Representative government was always a capital offensive. “Western values” were always infidelity to the word of God and the prophet Muhammad. Violence to Israel began before Israel. Violence against Jews in the middle east is as old as recorded history, at the beginning of which the land was occupied by Hebrew speaking people called Judites.

Muslims could just stfu, have respect for other cultures. They lost in court. Israel exists. Give it a fucking rest, at some point, surrender and move on.

Nope. Inconcievable. A century of suicide bombers and “Martyrdom.™”

It’s an indefensible culture. Leave it behind or die with it.

Xanis,

Look man, the problem with arguing with these people is that they are hard stuck. Biden could tell us exactly what the issue is, take his entire staff to Gaza, put on an apron, and begin filling bowls with soup, and people will be like, “HE ISN’T GRABBING A GUN AND FIGHTING BACK”

It’d be funny if it wasn’t so tiring and sad.

EchoCT,

We are. By letting the idf control what goes through the port, it will do nothing to help. As such we are letting them starve to death and remain facilitation genocide.

bigkahuna1986,

I play both sides, that way I always come out on top.

fuckingkangaroos,

As much as I despise lemmy.ml, you passed the ocular patdown. Have an upvote

S491,

It so they can export the natural gas they are going to steal from Gaza

SkyezOpen,

There’s a nonzero chance Israel bombs the pier “accidentally” and then maybe we’ll see some shit.

tiefling,

They’ve done that before

They settled for a few mil and called it a day

SkyezOpen,

Yeah, this time the pier has been telegraphed for months. No fog of war bullshit. If they hit it I fully expect a self defense response.

vaultdweller013,

If they hit the pier I hope we drop a MOAB on the IDF HQ. Itd be funny.

capital,

Were shoot our own sometimes too. Doesn’t mean it was deliberate.

SkyezOpen,

I’m well aware. But there’s absolutely no way Israel doesn’t I ow exactly where the pier is or that the US will be there, so if anything happens it is not an accident.

JustZ,

Israel already has the weapons it is using in Gaza. They get rid of the old stock first. Way cheaper to drop them than decommission then. They already have all the weapons they need to obliterate all of Gaza. They have not done so.

Kaput,

USA has the freedom to fly over Israel and airdrop food, build a floating pier to send boats, I suppose with Israel approval, but can’t have trucks driven into Gaza. There is a very weird relation going on.

BaroqueInMind,

Armed boats and planes are a lot more difficult for Hamas terrorists to hijack and commandeer versus an unescorted slow moving heavy transport truck.

Kaput,

My reflection is on the USA Israel relation. Hamas is gonna Hamas no matter what.

JustZ,

Not when they’re dead.

vaultdweller013,

You cant kill an ideology with bullets, if you could I wouldnt be a feral Redneck. Id just be feral.

JustZ,

Yes you can. There’s no future in violent radical panislamism.

Have you seen these new directed energy weapons? A shot that used to cost literally a few hundred thousand dollars now costs 13 cents.

vaultdweller013,

No you cant, ideas can be revived. The only way to truly destroy them is to remove the fuel. Which in this case is Israel being bastards.

girlfreddy,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

So far the only attacks on food trucks have been done by Israeli’s with the IDF standing idly by, watching it happen.

If you have proof otherwise, please show it.

BaroqueInMind,

I have no proof, fuck Israeli settlers, I hope they never see peace.

Cryophilia,

Armed boats and planes are a lot more difficult for the IDF terrorists to blockade and bomb versus an unescorted slow moving heavy transport truck.

JustZ, (edited )

Where are the trucks right now?

E

mosiacmango, (edited )

The US, and likely Israel, want no US military on the ground. The risk of an international incident is too high with Israels indescriminate bombing.

Thats why the air drops and the pier exists. Even US soliders driving aid trucks, or maybe especially US soldiers driving aid trucks, would cause huge issues for both countries, even as it would likely save lives overall.

One “accidental” airstrike on a US military aid convoy and you have real shit happening. Not to mention Hamas, fucks that they are, would be glad to kill some Americans if they could.

Its a 70+ yr mess, and ain’t no one is solving it unless everyone involved is on board.

fuckingkangaroos,

Israel wouldn’t “accidentally” hit a US aid convoy, they know that would jeopardize military aid. The current gov might be genocidal assholes but they’re not that stupid.

Hamas wouldn’t just blindly kill Americans, they’re also not blindly stupid and they know they’d quickly lose support from younger Americans. Plus that would piss off the Kremlin and they’d get an earful from Iran.

Ullallulloo,
@Ullallulloo@civilloquy.com avatar

Why would Hamas care about losing support from younger Americans or what the Kremlin thinks? Their sole goal is to achieve Arabic unity by escalating Arabic-Jewish hostilities.

fuckingkangaroos,

No doubt that many in Hamas want to undermine US military support for Israel, and young Americans protesting is one of the most likely ways that could happen. Their leaders are working with the Iranian government, which is coordinates with the Kremlin.

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

It’s kind of ironic they assembled it in Israel.

Nurse_Robot,

The entire force and best efforts from the United States military took over a month to build a pier and cost millions of dollars? Why the fuck did it take so long and cost so much?

thesporkeffect,

Preparing for all the friendly fire

Ioughttamow,

“Our bad, we thought you were a journo”

Sanctus,
@Sanctus@lemmy.world avatar

“Israel has recently announced they suspect members of Hamas to be hiding out in the recently constructed US Pier”

ModernRisk,
@ModernRisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

I know this is supposed to be a sarcastic joke. However, nothing surprises me anymore. I won’t be surprised if such a thing would happen.

Altofaltception,

Had to get the pain and suffering out first.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

It wouldn’t involve America if it didn’t take too long and cost too much.

setsneedtofeed,
@setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world avatar

What’s the reasonable cost for a pier like this?

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Zero, because the money we’re giving to Israel should go to it instead.

setsneedtofeed,
@setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world avatar

It would still have a cost, just paid for from a different source. I was curious how much a pier of this kind is supposed to actually cost, but I misunderstood, and see you were making an entirely different point unrelated to that.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Fair enough, I don’t know the answer to that. But I would also suggest that the corrupt nature of the Military-Industrial Complex means that it will cost a lot more than it would if it were a similar domestic civilian government contract.

JustZ,

Seems obvious you just think Israel is evil.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, I have this weird attitude to genocidal regimes where I consider them to be evil. Strange, I know.

JustZ,

You only consider them genocidal because you first considered them evil, though. Otherwise you’d see it how the many, many learned professionals and diplomats from throughout the West do, who don’t agree with you.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

No, I consider them genocidal because they’re committing genocide.

JustZ, (edited )

That’s your opinion. International law is based on precedent. Hamas is unprecedented: their zeal for the death of innocents, and tunnel warfare system, their international support from Iranian and Qatari oil oligarchs and monarchs, and their media. That’s what you’re defending right now.

How many more generations must be lost to instane religion hysteria because you’re getting tricked by dead kids that were killed by Hamas and some imaginary world history in which Jews are not aboriginal?

How about revolting? How about defecting? Nah, inconceivable! Martyrdom™ for all!

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Are you really claiming that the thousands of dead children in Gaza were all killed by Hamas?

Israel’s bombs and bullets missed every single child?

JustZ,

No, very much the opposite of that. Hamas made the kids stand in front of them, though. Hamas loves dead children in Gaza. It’s their most powerful weapon and look how well it worked against you.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

“Israel killed a huge number of children because Hamas forced them to by standing behind them” is not the defense you think it is.

JustZ,

I think it’s a pretty good defense. Terrorists don’t get to have their own state, And they don’t get to dictate the rules of engagement with absolute barbarity and disregard for human life.

Anyone not there willingly is free to gtfo the way with the other 98% of Gaza that’s still alive. It sucks most for the kids, who are the most vulnerable.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

How many children in Gaza should be killed in the name of fighting terrorism? Let’s have a number or a percentage.

JustZ, (edited )

I could not say.

Some* suggesting flooding the tunnels with salt water to minimize the collateral damage caused by ordinance. This would destroy the soil forever, as I understand it. And potentially make uninhabitable for real. Obviously using gas in the tunnels is out of the question. How do you suggest that they be destroyed?

E whoops bad typo. I am not proposing that…

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Why is it my job to tell Israel how to not commit genocide?

JustZ,

It’s not.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

You literally just challenged me to find a way to stop the genocide.

goferking0,

Because they don’t think it’s a genocide

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

They’re entitled to be incorrect.

HeartyBeast,
HeartyBeast avatar

You should have quoted fir the job

setsneedtofeed,
@setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world avatar

How long does it normally take to build a pier for offloading commercial cargo?

teft,
@teft@lemmy.world avatar

It’s a military floating pier so a few days tops.

setsneedtofeed,
@setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world avatar

Is that normally how long piers of this type and size take for the military?

Dasus,

This type and size?

Well what are it’s exact specifications?

Yes, you’re right in that it’s probably quite a large one, but for military pioneers who’ve got a fire under their arse, a month is a loong time. (Edit I looked at images and it really doesn’t seem that big. Dk.)

So we can only assume no-one was in such a rush.

I agree with the earlier guy that this could’ve been managed faster, if there had been will enough to do so.

The capabilities of military pioneers are quite literally awesome. As in, generating a feel of awe.

The first Allied bridge across the Rhine- Waterloo Bridge-was constructed by the Royal Engineers, assisted by 173 Pioneer Company, in the record time of 13 hours despite enemy fire and adverse weather. Casualties were light. The building of the Rhine railway bridge and its approaches from Griethausen to Spijk was an important operation. Working with the Sappers, four Pioneer Companies were engaged on its construction and in less than four weeks the bridge, some 2,600 ft in length, was open to traffic.

britishbadgeforum.com/the-pioneer-corps-british-a…

And that was 80 years ago. Capabilities have improved quite a bit since.

setsneedtofeed,
@setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world avatar

The bridge was usable after 4 weeks then?

Dasus, (edited )

No. In less than a day. Some say 13 hours other sources 10. Hours. Hours. While in adverse weather conditions and under enemy fire.

www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/s/rmorD1eiMv

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/3e190f66-4670-4fdc-a415-c0daa28bbf5e.png

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontoon_bridge

Id even know why I’m arguing this with someone who’s never talked to or even seen a military pioneer (or “combat engineer” as Americans like calling them.)

wearethemighty.com/…/this-bridge-is-one-of-the-mo…

And for the more visually minded youtu.be/Lq1cbKnDdco?si=M5qSZP0DlYeBkEbT

They were literally portable bridges that could hold tanks and be set up in a “very big hurry”.

setsneedtofeed, (edited )
@setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world avatar

It says built in 13 hours but usable for traffic in 4 weeks, and I am trying to parse that.

There was a temporary pontoon bridge then, and then a more permanent bridge for traffic built? I ask because pictures I initially saw were quite larger than the initial bridge, which made me question the within a day time.

I suppose it depends if the Gaza pier is closer to the first than the second. While the Gaza pier is described as temporary, it seems built to handle high and continuous cargo traffic. I imagine constructing such a platform which is also seaworthy enough to be towed requires more tasks than a single lane pontoon bridge. I also wonder how much of the Gaza pier had to be adapted and customized compared to pre-fabricated bridge segments.

Given the difference in type of work, and prefabricated material I wonder if 4 weeks is reasonable or not still. An example of similar maritime construction would be useful I suppose.

Dasus,

Open for traffic as in “now not just for the military, here you go civilians, have at it, no need to go around anymore”.

It is written pretty weirdly but that’s what I’d say, because those portable bridges definitely don’t take several weeks to set up.

The point I think he and I are making is that if it was just about the capability of building such a bridge at full speed, it would’ve been ready sooner. Instead there’s probably quite a lot of politics going on.

setsneedtofeed,
@setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world avatar

I’m aware of the implication. I’m trying to find out if it’s reasonable. Two military projects completed at different speeds is partially compelling, but then I find it less compelling looking at the differences.

I honestly don’t know if a month to build this project is reasonable or not. I’m poking at reactions to find out.

Dasus,

Considering the distress in Gaza, I think it should’ve been a bit faster. There’s definitely capability for that, especially from someone like the US military.

If this was some completely different sort of situation and US lives were in that sort of danger, I think it would’ve gone up a bit quicker.

A month isn’t unreasonably long, but I believe it could’ve been achieved much faster in dire need, and I think there is very dire need indeed.

Like if the people making the floating pier were under the same amount of motivation as the people who made the Dunkirk evacuation possible (which means pretty much everyone involved, can’t credit a single party for something like that), I think there would already be a pier.

I’m not blaming the US for “taking too long”, I’m just saying I personally believe (and have lots of that belief based on at least some facts) that it could’ve been done faster.

JustZ, (edited )

They had a something like a thousand Seabees out there welding in the middle of the ocean. This Pier has miles of welds. Just look at it. Every seam I’m sure is x rayed and pressure tested. You can see the thing from space.

capital,

This your first encounter with the government?

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