Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh has said that the Pentagon is working with various organisations to get the aid that is in Cyprus into Gaza the fastest and most efficient way. She made the remark during Thursday's briefing after announcing that following the damage sustained to the US built floating platform off the Gaza coast due to storm over the weekend, made for delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians, IDF engineers removed the anchored portion of the Trident Pier from the beach. All sections of the Trident Pier have been relocated to the Port of Ashdod for rebuilding and repairing, she said. She reminded journalists that the rebuilding and repairing of the pier will take over a week, and following completion, it will be re-anchored to the coast of Gaza. 'Alongside USAID and humanitarian organizations, we remain committed to working with the international community to get aid into Gaza as quickly as possible" she added. Singh said that prior to this storm over the weekend, 'when we did anchor the JLOTS into Gaza, we were seeing, you know, trucks being able to roll off' and the operation was going successfully. The combination of the high seas and then this weather storm turn from North Africa 'created the environment that we saw over the weekend. So, during this period of time is usually when there are relatively calmer seas in that Eastern Mediterranean portion of where the temporary pier is anchored. So, we believe we'll be successful. We don't anticipate for other storms. But we can't predict all weather patterns, but during this time it's usually relatively calm', she added. Asked if there are alternative routes or solutions so that the aid from Cyprus' humanitarian corridor gets into Gaza, Singh said 'that is something that USAID, and with other partners, NGOs, humanitarian organizations is working through to try and figure out, you know, faster, efficient ways to get that aid that's already in Cyprus into Gaza'. Singh remarked that before the weather storm, 'we were getting in trucks more regularly, and to date there's been over 1,000 metric tons that have flowed into Gaza.' 'We expect to be able to pick that progress back up as soon as we are able to re-anchor the Trident pier into Gaza', she added. Source: Cyprus News Agency
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