US Sends Vessel to Build Temporary Port Off Gaza Coast

Washington, 10 Mar (ONA) --- The US army has dispatched the logistics support vessel Frank S. Besson to the eastern Mediterranean to build a temporary aid port off Gaza coastline, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced.

Vessel Frank S. Besson left Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia less than 36 hours after US President Joe Biden announced that the US would provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza by sea, CENTCOM said in a statement.

The vessel is carrying the first equipment to establish a temporary pier to deliver vital humanitarian supplies, CENTCOM added.

Biden's announcement followed UN warnings of widespread famine among Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians five months after Israeli occupation forces launched brutal war in the Strip.

Construction of the offshore pier and causeway connecting it to land will take as long as 60 days and require about 1,000 US troops, Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder told reporters.

--- Ends/Khalid