Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh Briefs the Media at Pentagon

Watch Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh as she holds a press conference at the Pentagon to brief the news media on the latest updates and developments. Stay informed on the important issues and updates from the Department of Defense in this insightful press conference.
Happy Friday. Thanks for being here today. I know we don't usually do briefings on a Friday, so appreciate you adjusting your schedules. So first, starting off, I'd like to acknowledge the end of a successful week of the NATO summit. As you know, Secretary Austin had engagements throughout the week with his counterparts, including bilateral engagements and hosting a dinner for defense ministers on Wednesday evening.
This week, we celebrated NATO's historic achievements during the 75 years since its establishment and further deepened our bonds with our NATO allies and other partners. We also reaffirmed our commitment to supporting Ukraine in its fight for freedom from Russian aggression. In support of that commitment, the department announced yesterday the 61st presidential drawdown authority package, which has an estimated value of $225 million.
This package will provide Ukraine additional capabilities to meet its most urgent needs and includes one Patriot battery, munitions for rocket systems and artillery and anti-tank weapons. For a complete listing of the PDA's contents, I would direct you to defense.gov. Separately this morning, Secretary Austin also spoke by phone with Russian Minister of Defense, Andrey Belousov.
During the call, the Secretary emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication amid Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine. The last time Secretary Austin spoke with his Russian counterpart was on June 25, 2024, and later today, a brief readout of the call will be posted to defense.gov. And finally, I'd like to provide an update on the temporary pier or the Joint Logistics Over The Shore capability that has been used to surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command personnel attempted to re-anchor the temporary pier to the beach in Gaza to resume humanitarian operations. However, due to technical and weather related issues, CENTCOM personnel were unable to re-anchor the pier to the shore. The pier support vessels and equipment returned to Ashdod and will remain there for now.
A re-anchoring date has not yet been set at this time. To date, more than 8,000 metric tons, or nearly 20 million pounds of humanitarian aid have been delivered from the pier to the marshaling area where it can be collected by humanitarian organizations for onward delivery and distribution. As we said when we first announced this, the pier is part of a comprehensive response to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
In addition to enabling the delivery of life saving aid, implementation of JLOTS has enabled the development of Cyprus as a port for inspections and deliveries directly into Gaza. Aid can now be inspected in Cyprus and delivered directly into Gaza through Israel's Ashdod port and crossings in the north.
The deployment of this pier has also helped secure Israeli commitment to opening additional crossings into northern Gaza. Since the opening of these crossings, we've seen more trucks moving from Jordan directly into northern Gaza to help alleviate the dire humanitarian conditions. As we announced yesterday, the pier will soon cease operations with more details on that process and timing available in the coming days. We're very proud of our service members and all those supporting this effort and who have enabled vital humanitarian assistance to get into - to those in Gaza who need it most. Without a doubt, lives have been saved because of their work and commitment under very challenging conditions.
And as hundreds of thousands of people continue to face emergency levels of food insecurity across Gaza, the United States will continue to take all possible action to ensure increased aid flows are sustained at the scale needed to meet the needs on the ground. As we've said from the beginning, DOD will continue to work closely with USAID and others in the Middle East region to support these important efforts.
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Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh briefs the news media at the Pentagon.
Film Credits: Defense.gov