Press Briefing on Humanitarian Maritime Corridor in Gaza

DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY SABRINA SINGH: Today, I am pleased to welcome Vice Admiral Cooper, Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command and Ms. Sonali Korde, Assistant to the Administrator of USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, to provide an update on the status of the joint logistics over the shore, or JLOTS, operation off the coast of Gaza. With that, I'll turn it over to Vice Admiral Cooper for some opening remarks.

VICE ADMIRAL BRAD COOPER: OK. Thanks so much, Sabrina, and good afternoon, everybody. Great to be with you all today. As you know, U.S. Central Command forces have been executing operations to support USAID and the international community humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza since March. Our efforts have facilitated the delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza from the air, land, and sea. From the air, through exceptional collaboration with 12 partner nations, U.S. air drops have delivered more than 2.4 million pounds of aid into Gaza, ensuring vital assistance reached the point of need very quickly. From the land, CENTCOM has also supported delivery of aid into Gaza through land crossings. Our forces have coordinated with international partners to open new land routes, enabling the transportation of 33.5 million pounds of aid into Gaza via land so far. Many of the processes used in our support of new land pathways were developed from concepts implemented in our maritime operations, and I'll elaborate on this in just a moment. And then from the sea, CENTCOM forces have conducted a historically unprecedented operation to deliver aid into an active combat zone without any US boots on the ground or any preexisting supporting infrastructure in the immediate vicinity of the operation.

We enabled a new maritime corridor from Cyprus to Gaza, utilizing a temporary pier as the mechanism for the international community to deliver aid swiftly into Gaza. Our assessment is that the temporary pier has achieved its intended effect, to surge a very high volume of aid into Gaza and ensure that aid reaches the civilians in Gaza in a quick manner. Our soldiers and sailors have been executing this mission with significant impact as we have seen aid reach the people of Gaza and I'd like to share just a few key points to provide a broad context on the mission. First, the aid delivered via the pier alone is of a historic proportion. Nearly 20 million pounds of aid have been delivered through the pier.

It's the highest volume of humanitarian assistance that the U.S. military has ever delivered into the Middle East. For some perspective, the quantity of aid delivered via the pier into Gaza is just shy of the cumulative volume of aid delivered to Haiti following the catastrophic earthquake in 2010. Second point, the aid was impactful and necessary. USAID Administrator Samantha Power stated this weekend that she estimates aid from the pier could have fed nearly a half a million Gazans for a month, and that's a tangible impact. And then third, the pier provided an essential supplemental route for aid into Gaza at a critical time when other routes were challenged. If not delivered via the pier, this critical aid would likely not have been able to reach the people of Gaza in acute need.I think this is really important context.

However, we also would like to acknowledge that the most effective and efficient way to get aid into Gaza is through the land routes, and that's something that we continue to press on. So the simple fact is the pier has done exactly what we intended it to do and what the people of Gaza needed it to do, surge of very high volume of aid quickly. So now that that maritime surge mission was successful, it's now transitioning, from a temporary pier in Gaza to a port in Ashdod Israel. The desire for transition stems from the galvanizing effect the pier has had both on the stakeholder coordination within Gaza and by efficiencies that we've created through our involvement in enabling logistics operations.

As you know, we established a coordination cell in Israel to coordinate the delivery of aid into Gaza from the sea, a convoy management board within this cell, comprising representatives from the U.S., the Israeli Defense Force, COGAT, the United Nations and World Food Program. USAID have been overseeing the distribution of aid from the piers marshaling area into Gaza. Distribution of aid from the JLOTS marshaling area has been the safest and most efficient movement of vital aid in all of Gaza over the past several months. The processes have been so effective that best practices are being expanded for use throughout Gaza. With that, let me just talk on the transition process.

While the pier represents a temporary measure to surge aid from the sea, the Cyprus to Ashdod Maritime Corridor offers a more sustainable path. In the past few weeks, we've begun utilizing this new hybrid pathway from the sea and land to deliver aid from Cyprus to the port of Ashdod, Israel, then into North Gaza via the UN and WFP, and it's been successful. Israel has been fully supportive of this effort, and in the last several weeks, we've successfully delivered more than a million pounds of aid into Gaza via this route. Given the high sea state in the eastern Mediterranean and the successful completion of the temporary military enabled maritime surge mission, it's now time to announce the transition to this new Cyprus to Ashdod to Gaza pathway.

So in the coming weeks, we expect that millions of pounds of aid will enter into Gaza via this new pathway. The establishment of this new route builds on logistics and coordination, best practices from the JLOTS pier, and while the US military pier is no longer required, the US will maintain coordination elements in place in the near term to ensure humanitarian assistance continues to flow into Gaza through this new maritime pathway. And finally, I'd just like to mention, this has really been an extraordinary partnership supporting USAID, partnering with Israel, Cyprus, UAE, the European Union, UK and the UN and we look forward, as I mentioned, to continuing and enhancing the partnership going forward. And with that, I'll turn it over to Sonali for a couple of comments.

ASSISTANT TO THE ADMINISTRATOR SONALI KORDE: Hi. Thank you and thank you, Admiral Cooper. I'd like to first recognize the strong partnership with DoD and the efforts of the men and women in uniform in getting urgently needed assistance into Gaza. I'd also like to recognize the many international allies and partners who joined us in this surge of assistance from all over the world. We had more than a dozen countries join us in sending aid through the humanitarian maritime corridor. I'm joining you today from Cyprus and I'd like to particularly recognize the government of Cyprus for their efforts and cooperation that made this humanitarian operation possible. Their steadfast dedication to the people of Gaza has been exemplary.

I also want to recognize Israel, UAE, UK, EU and the UN as essential partners in this effort. We remain committed to this partnership in sustaining the maritime corridor and extending the critical processes that were developed to support safer movement of convoys throughout Gaza, as Admiral Cooper already described. USAID and our colleagues across the government will continue to do everything we can to surge assistance into Gaza. The needs are staggering and continue to grow. We need a ceasefire and the hostages to come home. This is the best way to enable urgently needed assistance to the most vulnerable people in Gaza. And I'd like to thank you for your time and we are happy to take your questions.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Thank you both. We will start by taking questions. Our first question comes from Lita Baldor, AP.

QUESTION: Hi, thanks a lot for doing this. Admiral Cooper, for you, just to make sure we understand. The pier, as a result of this transition, is going to be um sort of dismantled and taken back to the United States. Is that accurate? And if you could also address, are there any concerns about this new Ashdod process? Do you believe that there are enough land routes and good enough security that this new Ashdod plan is going to work? Thank you.

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah, two pieces. One, yeah, we do expect over time, for a redeployment. Obviously, we're not going to be in a position to talk about the timelines, given the operational context, but that's what we expect going forward. And then we are quite confident on the Ashdod piece. As I mentioned, we had several proofs of concept. Yesterday, Mr. Gallant announced that Ashdod be used in this capacity, and we're very confident in the sustaining element of this moving forward.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Thank you. Our next question will go to Phil Stewart from Reuters.

QUESTION: Hey, just to clarify, so the pier is currently being dismantled, the pier operation, safe to declare that over? And secondly, you said you were going to maintain some coordination of cells or folks in the area. What exactly will they be doing? Is there still a military role in moving - will the military be moving aid from Cyprus to Ashdod or is this going to be a purely civilian operation or a mix? Thanks.

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah, a couple of comments there. Correct in what you said is that the pier, the maritime surge mission involving the pier is complete. So, there's no more need to use the pier, particularly because we're able to implement a more sustaining pathway through Ashdod. So that's that piece of it. We expect the military coordination of this to continue in Cyprus, in the near term because there's still aid in Cyprus, and we intend to deliver that aid to Ashdod so that those processes that were established there will continue.

And then in Israel, we still have a coordination element that's going on. And as I mentioned, many of the aspects of what JLOTS enabled, which were best practices, best ways of doing business. We're looking to spread those throughout Gaza and we're going to use our team to help implement many of those practices supporting USAID and the UN and others in this regard.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Thank you. Our next question will go to Nancy Youssef, Wall Street Journal.

QUESTION: Thanks, I had a couple clarifying questions. You said that the aid would go from Cyprus. Once the aid is already delivered from Cyprus, do you anticipate any more coming from there or will everything go from Ashdod? That is, is there any sort of maritime element after Cyprus? And also, can you clarify, you said that you've done some sort of planning for Ashdod, but there have been a number of concerns about the viability of that. Why is it that you think that this would be a more successful alternative or at least equal alternative in terms of getting aid in? And finally, you mentioned that the ships will be coming back. Can you help us understand how you're planning to transport the Army watercraft back to the US given that it's hurricane season and these are not blue water vessels? Thank you.

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah, let me talk about the Ashdod first. We haven't just done planning. We've done multiple proofs of concept and delivered more than one million pounds of aid. So we've delivered with effect through Ashdod. So we're very confident in that port and I think you've seen that confidence manifest in the announcement yesterday from Mr. Gallant. And going forward, we look forward to millions more pounds of aid going through that pathway. In terms of future operational planning, I'm not going to be able to talk about specifics on that.

Obviously, we'll develop a plan that redeploys or remissions folks in a prudent and safe manner. Otherwise, on the Cyprus piece, as I mentioned, there still remain millions of pounds of aid there, the broader context to the aid of delivery. Let me just pass the baton and see if Sonali wanted to comment any more on that since I'm talking about it. Over.

ASSISTANT TO THE ADMINISTRATOR KORDE: So just to add on, we need more assistance in Gaza. The key challenge right now is around distribution. So we do have good prospects with Ashdod and have confidence that Ashdod is going to be a very viable and important route into Gaza, but we absolutely do need all of the routes to be working. They are mostly open, but the key challenge we have right now in Gaza is around the insecurity and lawlessness that is hampering the distribution once aid gets into Gaza, into the crossing points.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Thank you. Our next question will go to Carla Babb, VOA.

QUESTION: Hey. Thanks for doing this and sorry, my internet was going in and out during the last question, so I hope I'm not repeating anything. But how much aid, I think I heard you said millions of pounds are left in Cyprus. How much specifically is left in Cyprus? Is there an appetite to add more into Cyprus and continue this pathway? And then just to clarify, so once the aid gets to Ashdod, it will travel via truck to get into Gaza? Thanks.

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah, that's exactly right. Once the aid goes to Ashdod in a coordinated effort with the UN, WFP, it goes right onto a truck and coordinated, flow through the northern access gates, in the Erez Gates into Gaza. Right now between afloat and Cyprus, there's at least five million pounds, so we remain on mission to get that delivered in the quickest way possible and we expect that to start here in the coming days.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Thank you. Next question will be from Joseph, Al Arabiya. Joseph, if you are speaking, just hit star, six, so your line can be unmuted. OK. We'll try and circle back to you, Joseph. Next question will go to Natasha Bertrand, CNN.

QUESTION: Hey, there. This is more on the aid side of things, but I'm just wondering if the Israelis have agreed to open any additional land crossings other than Ashdod now that the pier is dead and whether there are any updates on negotiations to open or to reopen Rafah? Thanks.

ASSISTANT TO THE ADMINISTRATOR KORDE: Hi, thanks. So we have, basically, the Kerem Shalom crossing, the Zikim crossing, there's a 96 gate crossing in addition to Ashdod is open, so all those routes are open. We also have the Jordan corridor that's bringing in assistance. There's a Cypress corridor that's bringing in assistance through Ashdod. And in addition, Ashdod is open for cargo and humanitarian assistance coming in from other ports. So there's a lot of optionality in terms of uh entryways into Gaza. I don't have an update for you on Rafah border crossing. This remains under discussion between Israeli and Egyptian officials.

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah. On top of that, I think I would just mention, the pier is not dead, having now delivered the largest volume of humanitarian assistance ever into the Middle East. We're now mission complete and transitioning to a new phase which is a more sustaining element into Ashdod.

QUESTION: But there's no pier, right, or is there a pier?

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: No, it's simply not necessary. You have plenty of piers in Ashdod, Israel. At the time -

QUESTION: Right, but the U.S. military pier is no longer?

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Its mission complete. Correct.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Thank you. Our next question will go to Constantine, Military.com.

QUESTION: Thanks all. Admiral, as you say the JLOTS mission is mission complete, are there any lessons learned or takeaways that you're able to share now that you guys are looking to sort of pack up shop and head home?

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah, there's a high volume of lessons and best practices that we haven't just learned, that are currently being implemented and spread throughout Gaza even today, using the coordination cell as the central mechanism to help do that. So I think that's the big piece, the value of coordination and how some of those best practices can be implemented moving forward.

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Also, on the funding side. I didn't mention this in my initial remarks, so we're going to come in well underneath the $230 million we estimated, for about $20 million or about 20 million pounds of aid. I think that context is important. If I go back to the Haiti analogy that I used earlier, Haiti delivered about 23 million pounds of aid, and it was about $460 million.

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: So it just provides a little context. In one hand, 20 million pounds at about $230 million and we'll come in less than that. 23 million pounds, $460 million. I think the team has done a good job in maximizing both talent and as well, be efficient in the delivery of humanitarian assistance in this regard. I think just an important point to point out.

QUESTION: And if I may, just a quick follow up, that $20 million of savings, can you speak at all to where that came from?

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah. Our estimate was $230 million and as I said, I'm confident we're going to come in underneath that. We'll see what all the final costs look like and keep everybody informed along the way.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Thank you. Our next question will go to Noah, Defense News.

QUESTION: Hey, thank you for doing this. Can you hear me all right?

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Yep, we can hear you just fine.

QUESTION: Great. Thank you. I'm wondering if you can give us final numbers that are a little bit more specific on the number of pounds delivered. You said just under 20 million, but do you have a specific one there? Secondarily, also on the number of days operational that the pier was working? And then finally, I mean, can you get any more specific on how much it cost or at least the timeline of how long that will take? And I have a follow up. Thank you.

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Ok. Yeah. So I think more specifically it's a 19.4 million pounds, so that's the specific aspect. We're operational for a little more than 20 days. And in those days, there's another important point. You may recall, you know, several months ago I talked about the goal was about 500,000 pounds a day. On virtually every day, we were either doubling that number at one million pounds or tripling that number. So while I think the 20 days is interesting, the fact is on most days, we were doubling or tripling what we thought we would be able to do. And then finally, yeah, I think it's going to take a little bit of time, plus calculating the redeployment costs, but we'll certainly follow up with you on this.

QUESTION: And just the last one, I hear a lot of positivity on the call and understand the points that you're making with the success story that you're telling. At the same time, the President, in a press conference last week, did have a different assessment in which he said that he was hopeful that this would have been more successful. Do you have a response to that?

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah. I'm obviously familiar with his remarks. Let me just stick with the facts. We delivered the highest volume of aid we've ever delivered in the Middle East, 20 million pounds. It made it very safely and it was the most successful and most efficient getting to the people of Gaza, and I think that data stands on its own.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: OK. Thank you. Our next question will go to Luis Martinez, ABC.

QUESTION: Hi, Admiral. Thank you very much for this briefing. I'd just like to clarify something by when you said in this call the word "we" - we've delivered one million pounds as a part of a proof of mission proof of concept, we've delivered, we will deliver these five million pounds still in Cyprus and on board ships. Can you clarify what you mean? Obviously, it was at these military ships. What kind of cargo ships went to Ashdod? What kind of vessels do we anticipate continuing with Ashdod? Excuse me, from Cyprus into Ashdod? Thank you.

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah, for at least the near term, we expect to use the same vessels that have been transporting aid from Cyprus to the pier. Now, those same vessels will be used to transport aid from Cyprus to Ashdod.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Ok. Thank you. Our next question will go to, I believe it's Mahuel [ph], Financial Times. I'm sorry if I didn't pronounce your name correctly.

QUESTION: Don't worry, you got it just right. Just to clarify a couple things. So the aid is pre-scanned by Israeli inspectors in Cyprus. Therefore, upon landing in Ashdod, it's cleared to enter northern Gaza, is that a yes?

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah. Yes, and I think this has been a key aspect of the delivery mechanism and pathway that we've had in place for several months. Aid gets the thumbs up, having been scanned in Cyprus, then previously delivered into Gaza. Same process applies going into Ashdod. Once the vessels arrive, offloaded right onto trucks and then right into the North Gaza gates and to the people.

QUESTION: And then I guess the second follow up question, considering that now that there is continued US military involvement on this land route from Ashdod to northern Gaza, is there any expectation that conditions on the ground will be improved in terms of safety, distribution problems, etc., because the U.S. is involved in this transfer process, or do they now continue to face the same problems that they faced before, which is once they get into northern Gaza conditions don't allow for efficient distribution because of fighting bad roads, etc., etc.?

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah, we're going to continue the process of taking these best practices that we learn through the JLOTS marshaling yard, onward distribution and work with all the parties. And this is already in progress, to help maximize the efficiency of the internal distribution. And that's already happening.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Thank you.

QUESTION: Could you give me a little more color on that, what it's going to look like, what are the changes that will happen? Because that seems to be the fundamental problem right now. Jake Sullivan mentioned that last week too.

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah. I think let's see what that looks like in action, give it a little bit of time. But just to give you several examples of, just we had very tight coordination in the internal distribution with the IDF, COGAT, the UN. These processes, and the BFP, led by USAID, these processes work well. Now we're looking to take those same lessons and just take the best practice aspect and just implement it more broadly throughout Gaza. And going forward, let's just see what that looks like.

QUESTION: All right. Thank you very much.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: All right. Thank you. We're going to take uh just two more questions here. Jared Szuba, Al Monitor.

QUESTION: Hi, all, thank you for doing this. Admiral Cooper, you mentioned the pier has achieved its intended effect. I think it was U.S. officials said earlier this year after the pier project was announced that the objective was to relieve pressure on Gaza's economic market for humanitarian goods, so as to reduce the looting and chaos and looting of aid convoys. To quote, I believe the term was demonetize these commodities, end quote. Did the pier succeed in that regard? And Sonali, have you secured an agreement for distribution within Gaza for the aid shipped from Ashdod? Thank you.

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah, let me just a quick answer and I'll pass the baton off to Sonali. I can't speak to the specific dollar piece of this. What I can say definitively is the movement of humanitarian assistance from the pier into Gaza for distribution is by orders of magnitude has been the most efficient in all of Gaza these last couple of months. And I'll turn that over to Sonali.

ASSISTANT TO THE ADMINISTRATOR KORDE: Yeah, so thanks for the question. I mean, you may remember that when we first started to discuss the Gaza pier, we were really in a period where we were having a lot of issues with insecurity and looting. And that has definitely improved because there was a surge of assistance going in through both the pier, through the airdrops, through Kerem Shalom through all the alternative crossings. We are unfortunately in a situation where the insecurity has increased again and we're seeing a rise in, you know, looting and other kinds of criminal activities. And that is definitely causing problems for aid distribution right now as we go forward in Gaza. So, you know, I think every day, the situation is different on the ground, but we continue to just plug ahead with our partners on the distribution issues.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Thank you. And our last question will go to Mallory Shelbourne, USNI.

QUESTION: Hi, Thanks so much for doing this. Just want to clarify, so now that you're using the pier in Ashdod, am I correct in understanding that you no longer need the army watercraft? And what does that mean for them moving forward? And then, do you have any updates to share about the service members who were injured in May?

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah. One of my favorite things to talk about is ships, but one of the things I can't talk about is their operational employment, what that looks like. And so we'll just see what that looks like going forward. In terms of the service members, again, I'll go back, back in May, we announced three service members. Two of them had really minor, minor injuries that were fundamentally non-issues. The third individual, a soldier, is in San Antonio, and he remains in San Antonio in the hospital. He is no longer in critical condition, but any more details I think talking about that would be inappropriate.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Thank you, all. Go ahead, Mallory.

QUESTION: Can I just follow up real quick? So I'm correct in understanding that for Ashford you do not - I know you can't talk about what's next for the Army watercraft, but you don't need them to facilitate aid from Cyprus to Ashdod?

VICE ADMIRAL COOPER: Yeah. I think the best way to describe this, without getting into the details is the ships that have been delivering aid are the ones that we're going to continue using to deliver aid, and we're going to let that process play out and just kind of go from there. I hope that makes sense.

QUESTION: Thank you.

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SINGH: Thanks, Mallory, so much and thank you all for joining our call today and to Ms. Sonali Korde, who's also joining us from Cyprus, very much appreciate your time. That concludes today's on the record briefing call and uh look forward to being in touch again. Thank you.

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