How a humanitarian group built a pier to bring food to Gaza

In mid-March, just hours before sunset, workers at World Central Kitchen were rushing to put the finishing touches on a makeshift pier built from rubble, while the ship carrying first aid supplies to reach the Gaza Strip by sea in for almost two decades it retreated towards the sea. it costs.

The team from World Central Kitchen, the non-profit disaster relief organisation, still had to cover the sharp edges of the pier and rebar, a reminder that the rubble used to build the structure in northern Gaza came from bombed buildings .

Using square pieces of rubble, they created a concrete wall vertical to meet the ship.

“Doing any kind of construction project in Gaza right now presents a ridiculous number of challenges,” said Sam Bloch, director of emergency response at World Central Kitchen, founded by the famous Spanish chef José Andrés.

Bloch, who oversaw the construction of the pier and the arrival of the cargo, described the scene by telephone from Oakland, California, after leaving Gaza.

Without precedents

The arrival of the ship, which set sail from Cyprus after checking for aid, was a milestone in a feat that Western officials hope will help alleviate food deprivation in the enclave.

The operation was classified as a pilot project for the wider opening of a maritime corridor to supply the territory.

Once unloaded, the food was distributed across Gaza by truck, including in the north, where experts say famine is imminent.

International aid agencies have largely suspended their operations in the area, citing Israeli restrictions, safety problems and poor road conditions.

At least two attempts to deliver food aid to desperate Palestinians in northern Gaza have ended in bloodshed in recent weeks, with Palestinian and Israeli officials blaming each other for the deadly scenes.

According to an Israeli official who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, the Israeli army collaborated in Operation World Central Kitchen, providing security and coordination.

Each step was performed with the permission from the Israeli army, Bloch said.

“There were a lot of stops and starts,” he said, and the progress was “absolutely not consistent or predictable.”

Construction has begun on the World Central Kitchen Pier six days, and the construction site sometimes operated 24 hours a day as the pier slowly extended out to sea, one truckload of debris at a time.

“Using the rubble was a big challenge,” Bloch said, “but it’s the single appeal which abounds in Gaza right now.

Resources

The debris came mainly from southern Gaza, but also from around the workplace.

The main contractor, who had lost two of his houses in the shelling about 1.5 kilometers from the dock, went with his dump trucks and heavy machinery to collect what was left of his destroyed houses, Bloch said.

Most of the construction equipment, including loaders, dump trucks, flatbed trucks, cranes and a fuel truck, came from southern Gaza, Bloch said.

But a piece of equipment, one mobile light tower which allowed construction to continue overnight, it had to be recovered from a bombed warehouse in the north.

In coordination with the Israeli army, a small convoy, accompanied by heavy machinery to clear the streets, was sent to a warehouse in Gaza city, where local contractors had identified what they believed to be the unique light tower that was left in Gaza, Bloch said.

To unload the ship, which contained just below 500,000 mealsa large crane at the end of the pier transferred pallets of food onto eighteen wheels that had been carefully pulled back onto the pier.

When the load was unloaded it was almost midnight. World Central Kitchen decided to send the trucks to a warehouse in Deir al Balah, a few kilometers south of the pier, and distribute the aid throughout the day.

A few days later, the trucks drove along Salah al-Din Road, the main artery through central Gaza, to the southern border of Gaza City, where hungry families They collected food directly from trucks.

According to Bloch, no one was injured during the distribution.

In the future, World Central Kitchen hopes to speed up the process by sending food directly from the dock to communities in northern Gaza, Bloch said.

The organization is also working to develop community kitchens which act as distribution points.

Building community kitchens is World Central Kitchen’s bread and butter.

The group already has 68 in southern Gaza that provide most of the hot meals to civilians in the area, Bloch said.

World Central Kitchen loaded a larger vessel in Cyprus which was still waiting for suitable weather conditions on Monday before leaving for Gaza.

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