US military ship heads to Gaza with supplies to build temporary pier to deliver humanitarian aid

A U.S. military ship is heading toward Gaza with equipment to build a temporary pier to deliver humanitarian aid to the territory, officials said.

The U.S. Army Vessel General Frank S. Besson left Virginia's Joint Base Langley-Eustis to head to the "Eastern Mediterranean less than 36 hours after President Joe Biden announced the U.S. would provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza by sea," U.S. Central Command said Saturday on X, formerly Twitter. "Besson, a logistics support vessel, is carrying the first equipment to establish a temporary pier to deliver vital humanitarian supplies."

The ship left the U.S. shortly after Biden announced Thursday during his State of the Union address that he would deploy the U.S. military to establish a temporary pier on the Gazan coast to increase aid entering the strip, which is under the control of the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hamas. 

Biden pledged that the aid delivery would not result in U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza. 

The U.S. has already been conducting airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including tens of thousands of meals and water bottles. The military has said the relief will go to civilians on the ground, even though officials did not publicly lay out a plan that would prevent the aid from going to Hamas. 

Providing aid on the ground has proven to be dangerous and even deadly. More than 100 people died in northern Gaza late last month after a crowd rushed aid trucks, resulting in people being trampled, hit by the trucks and shot, officials said. 

Meanwhile, about 130 people, including six Americans, remain in captivity in Gaza after being kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas and other terrorists invaded Israel and killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 others.

Using the same numbers as the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties, Biden said during his State of the Union that more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7. 

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