US begins construction of pier off Gaza coast: Pentagon

WASHINGTON

The US has begun to construct a temporary pier off the Gaza coast to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed Thursday.

"I can confirm that U.S. military vessels, to include the USNS Benavidez, have begun to construct the initial stages of the temporary pier and causeway at sea," Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.

Ryder said the Pentagon will soon provide more information.

The Pentagon announced in March that it would undertake an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier on the Gazan coast to deliver up to 2 million humanitarian aid meals per day.

The mission has a goal of beginning deliveries in approximately 60 days from March 8. It includes a floating pier -- an 1,800-foot-long causeway that will be attached to the shore and a group of logistic support vessels and barges that will transport the aid from the pier to the causeway, according to the Pentagon.

Ryder said a small number of mortars landed in the vicinity of the marshalling yard area for humanitarian assistance and that it occurred before any US forces started moving anything.

"The incident in no way delays our efforts to establish the maritime corridor," he said.

Gaza mass graves must be 'thoroughly' investigated

Turning to mass graves found in Gaza, Ryder said the reports are "very disturbing."

"To my knowledge, the secretary (Lloyd Austin) has not spoken to his counterpart (Yoav Gallant) about this. But, I know that, as (National Security Advisor Jake) Mr. Sullivan highlighted yesterday, the US government has raised this with the Israelis at multiple levels," he said.

Without providing further information on the defense department’s standpoint, Ryder said the reports must be "thoroughly" investigated.

More than 300 bodies have been found in mass graves since Saturday. The bodies were discovered after the Israeli army withdrew from Khan Younis on April 7 following a four-month ground offensive in the city.

About a possible Israeli ground attack in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Ryder said: "We've been very clear that while we both agree that the defeat of Hamas is important -- that any operations going after Hamas in Rafah take into account civilian safety and the delivery of humanitarian assistance."

The Israelis shared some of their thinking in terms of what a Rafah operation could look like, he said. "But those conversations are still ongoing as we still have concerns about how they would go about doing that and taking into account the large number of displaced people and their safety."

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 34,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 77,300 injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli onslaught, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.