Will USAID Hire ‘Private Military Companies’ To Distribute Gaza Aid?: Pentagon Spokesperson Responds

4 months ago

During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh answered reporter questions on Gaza aid distribution.

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00:00 I have one follow-up and then a different question.

00:02 On the Sagmore, how much aid can that ship hold

00:05 in terms of truckloads?

00:07 And is this the only ship that's taking advantage of the pier?

00:10 I guess I'm wondering, like, kind of the throughput of aid

00:13 and how that's going to work, how many trucks a day?

00:16 You know, I don't have an exact estimate on how much,

00:18 how many, like, pallets it can load.

00:20 I'm happy to get back to you on that one.

00:23 I think it will vary just on how much, you know,

00:26 different things that are packed onto it.

00:29 And then, I'm sorry, in terms of,

00:31 will this be the only one going back and forth from the...

00:34 I'm trying to get at...

00:35 A senior defence official told us, I think, last week,

00:37 that it's going to...

00:38 the JLUTS is going to be allowed to provide 150 trucks a day

00:42 at full operational capability. Yeah.

00:43 But that just seems low to me,

00:46 considering that it's a maritime route.

00:48 It seems like a ship would hold more than that, so I'm...

00:50 Well, I mean, you have to remember this is a temporary pier.

00:53 This is not the best way to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.

00:58 The best way are through those land routes.

00:59 And we do want to see those opened up.

01:01 We do want to see aid continue to flow in

01:04 through those land crossings.

01:05 This is just one. It's meant to help augment,

01:09 to help complement other ways that aid can get in,

01:13 not just through land routes,

01:14 but, of course, we're also doing those airdrops

01:16 that you continue to see us do on a regular basis.

01:20 I mean, 150 trucks is at its...

01:22 You know, when it's fully operational,

01:24 I think what you're going to see at the very beginning

01:26 is a crawl-walk-run scenario,

01:30 is we're going to start with an additional small amount

01:33 of aid trucks to flow in to make sure that the system works,

01:36 that the distribution works,

01:37 and then you'll see that increase, of course,

01:40 when we get to full operational capacity.

01:43 But that's something that the commander

01:44 is continuing to work through.

01:46 For more aid questions on the SAGIMAR

01:49 and what it's holding, I would refer you to USAID.

01:52 And then just on a separate topic,

01:53 is the U.S. considering the use of private military companies

01:56 to help distribute aid in Gaza?

01:59 I'm not aware of that,

02:01 but that's something that USAID would be able to speak more

02:04 to the distribution of aid once it gets into Gaza,

02:08 so I'd refer you to them.

02:09 I also realized that you asked about the SAGIMAR

02:11 being the only ship going back and forth.

02:14 Just as a reminder, commercial ships

02:15 can also go up to that floating pier.

02:18 It's the military ships, the LSUs and the LSVs

02:21 that take the aid from the floating pier to the causeway.

02:25 That is only military.

02:27 But commercial ships can go up.

02:29 Once they're -- Other ships can.

02:30 Other ships can once their --

02:32 once aid is loaded in Cyprus, inspected,

02:35 it goes to the floating pier.

Will USAID Hire ‘Private Military Companies’ To Distribute Gaza Aid?: Pentagon Spokesperson Responds

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