U.S. Humanitarian Maritime Pier Delivers 19 Million Pounds Of Aid To Gaza

Since the earliest days of the conflict in Gaza, the United States has been working relentlessly to increase the amount of assistance reaching Palestinians in Gaza. In an effort to surge urgently needed aid into Gaza, the United States established the humanitarian maritime pier in May. USAID, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), international partners, and the United Nations transported almost 19 million pounds (more than 8,100 metric tons) of aid from Cyprus' Larnaca Port to Gaza for further distribution by humanitarian partners. This is the equivalent of enough assistance to feed 450,000 people for one month.

In addition to the amount of aid that was able to move into Gaza, the pier operations allowed for enhanced multinational cooperation and greater communication between humanitarian partners and Israeli authorities. This effort has improved the protection of humanitarian workers and the facilitation of humanitarian operations in the context of the maritime corridor. The Government of Israel has agreed to extend systems and processes underpinning the real time collaboration between the Israeli military and humanitarian partners established for the maritime pier to all of Gaza, which is vital for humanitarian workers to be able to safely distribute assistance and reach the most vulnerable.

Today, the DoD announced the conclusion of the maritime pier, but our work is ongoing to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. While this critical surge of assistance was desperately needed, the humanitarian needs on the ground are growing. USAID continues to work across the U.S. government and with international humanitarian partners to surge assistance, particularly through critical land crossings.

It is essential for all crossings to be open and operating at maximum capacity. That includes through the Port of Ashdod, a critical entry point for assistance prior to October 7. The U.S. government has worked with the Government of Israel and humanitarian partners to accelerate screening to allow for greater quantities of aid to move through for distribution into Gaza. We continue to coordinate with multinational partners to facilitate the transportation of goods through maritime routes to Ashdod.

The needs in Gaza remain staggering - with nearly the entire population in need of food assistance and with the vast majority lacking access to clean water for months. We urgently need a ceasefire to be able to surge assistance and have the hostages released.