The MV Roy Benavidez gets underway March 21, 2024, from Newport News, Va., heading to the eastern Mediterranean Sea to support the humanitarian response mission in Gaza. (Ryan Carter/Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — Two U.S. military ships carrying the supplies needed to build a humanitarian aid corridor off Gaza’s shore are moving closer to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, as the Pentagon works with aid groups to begin deliveries as early as the end of this month.
The logistics vessel USAV General Frank Besson entered the Mediterranean on Wednesday, U.S. European Command said in an email to Stars and Stripes.
The ship, which left the U.S. on March 9, is carrying supplies to build an 1,800-foot-long causeway that would work in tandem with a floating Navy-built and operated dock. The structure would deliver as many as 2 million meals daily into Gaza, EUCOM said.
USAV General Frank S. Besson, an Army logistics ship, headed eastbound near Gibraltar April 3, 2024, towards the eastern Mediterranean. (X/Michael J. Sanchez)
MV Roy P. Benavidez, assigned to the Military Sealift Command and carrying modular pieces for the pier system, was traveling south of the Italian island of Sardinia on April 1, according to a USNI News fleet tracker published the same day.
Full operational capability of the dock and causeway was expected by the end of April or early May, matching the 60-day estimate announced in March, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for the Defense Department, told reporters Thursday at a Pentagon briefing.
The DOD still was working with the U.S. Agency for International Development and other groups to finalize the details on how the food would be received and distributed, Ryder said.
USAV General Frank S. Besson, an Army logistics ship, prepares to depart Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., March 9, 2024, en route 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)
An April 1 Israeli airstrike that killed seven humanitarian workers and resulted in some aid agencies suspending their operations in Gaza hasn’t made the job easier, Ryder said Thursday.
“But that has not deterred us from continuing to work with groups and (non-governmental organizations) to come up with solutions,” he said.
Four other Army ships — USAVs Monterrey, Matamoros, SP4 James A. Loux and Wilson Wharf — still are en route, EUCOM said.
On Friday, those vessels were at port in the Canary Islands, Gibraltar-based ship watcher Michael Sanchez said. He estimated, based on a relatively slow speed, the ships could travel the 680 nautical miles to the the Strait of Gibraltar in as little as three days.
Military Sealift Command ships USNS 1st Lt. Baldomero Lopez and USNS 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo still were in the U.S., loading supplies and equipment for the Navy dock on April 1, according to the USNI report.
The Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore project includes a large floating dock to be built by the Navy about 3 miles off the Gaza shore. Cargo would be transported from the dock by Navy ferries to the Army causeway, according to a DOD statement on March 20.
No U.S. service members would be on the ground in Gaza. Israel would provide security on shore, Ryder said.
The construction is expected to take several weeks to build and test before cargo moves ashore, according to EUCOM.
U.S. Central Command would continue to provide meals and water via air drops to Gaza in coordination with partner organizations and nations, unless directed otherwise.
Also on Thursday, the National Security Council announced in a statement that Israel had agreed to open the port of Ashdod and the crossing at Erez to facilitate the distribution of aid into Gaza. Ashdod is about 23 miles north of Erez.
