Pentagon: Gaza Pier Is 'Operational' Again, 15 Million Pounds Of Aid Delivered Since May 17

3 months ago

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Major General Pat Ryder was asked about the temporary aid pier off constructed by the US military off coast of Gaza.

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Transcript

00:00Pat, along these lines, could you give us an update on the pier? Is it still moving

00:05aid? If so, how much? And also, again, if the UN decides to stop delivering aid, what

00:12does that mean for the operation of the pier? Will you curtail the amount of aid you're

00:16sending to the Marshall area? Will you stop? Does that have an effect on your operations?

00:21Yeah, so a few things. So first of all, yes, the pier is operational. It resumed operations

00:27again today. As you know, yesterday they took a day to do some scheduled maintenance

00:33on the pier. But the bottom line is, yes, it's operational. Aid is flowing across the

00:37causeway. CENTCOM, you know, per standard, will be issuing updates in terms of the amounts.

00:43I can tell you right now, to date, since May 17th, they've delivered more than 6,800 metric

00:49tons or 15 million pounds of humanitarian aid ashore for onward delivery. Now, your

00:55question about the amount of aid, again, back to my earlier comment, you know, the

01:01DOD is working with the interagency and international NGOs to facilitate the delivery of aid. And

01:09so that's our role in this, is to help get the aid there, whether it's via the maritime

01:13corridor, whether it's via air or, you know, preferably land routes. And so, again, we're

01:21going to continue to work with those agencies who are the ones that are out there that are

01:24doing the hard work to facilitate those donations. But bottom line is, we'll be standing ready

01:31to help get the aid there. Now, last thing I'll say on that is, again, to underscore,

01:37you know, this is a temporary pier. So this is a temporary solution to help rush aid into

01:44the zone, again, recognizing the dire security situation there. But, again, we're going to

01:50continue to look at all ways to get aid into Gaza.

01:53Q If the UN stops delivering food, will you just continue moving humanitarian aid to that

01:59marshalling area? Or you basically say, if they're not delivering aid, we're going to

02:03have to at some point stop?

02:04MR. MCMANUS I mean, certainly, we've got to take into

02:08account the capacity of the marshalling area. We're not quite there yet. So, you know, again,

02:14we're going to continue to be in communication with the UN, with World Food Program, USAID,

02:19and look at those things. Ultimately, though, I think we all want the same thing, which

02:23is to make sure aid can get to the people who need it in Gaza.

Pentagon: Gaza Pier Is 'Operational' Again, 15 Million Pounds Of Aid Delivered Since May 17

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