The construction is meant to allow humanitarian aid to bypass Israeli restrictions on land convoys into the besieged strip.
The facility is meant to include an offshore platform to transfer aid from ships, and a floating pier to bring the aid to shore.
But aid workers say, and defense officials have acknowledged, that the maritime project is not an adequate substitute for land convoys.
The floating pier is being built alongside an Army ship off the Gaza coast.
Army ships are large, lumbering vessels, so they have armed escorts, particularly as they get within range of Gaza’s coast, defense officials have said.
Persons:
Patrick S, Ryder, General Ryder, Biden
Organizations:
Defense, Pentagon, ., U.S, Army
Locations:
Gaza, U.S