WASHINGTON: The White House said on Sunday that a US-made pier meant to boost aid to Gaza will become operational in a few weeks but cannot replace land routes with trucks as the best way to feed people in the territory.

Israel’s more than six-month war in Gaza has triggered a humanitarian crisis, and it faces growing pressure to enable more aid deliveries as the UN warns famine is imminent.

The Pentagon said last week that the US military had begun building a pier meant to speed up aid deliveries.

“It will take probably two to three weeks before we can really see an operation,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Sunday on ABC News.

Kirby said the floating platform to bring more food and other essentials into Gaza will help, but has its limits.

“Nothing can replace, quite frankly, nothing can replace the ground routes and the trucks that are getting in,” Kirby said.

After the killing of seven aid workers in an Israel strike on April 1, which drew international outrage, President Joe Biden bluntly told Israel to change the way it is waging the war.

He said it was imperative that Israel let in more aid and take more pains to avoid Palestinian civilian casualties.

Biden said continued US aid to Israel would depend on such changes being made.

Kirby said Israel is now letting in more trucks, including in the particularly hard-hit north of Gaza.

“The Israelis have started to meet the commitments that President Biden asked them to meet,” he said. Plans for the pier were first announced by Biden in early March, as Israel was being accused of holding up aid deliveries on land.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2024