Gaza StripThe $230 million makeshift dock the US military built at short notice to send humanitarian aid to Gaza has largely failed in its mission, humanitarian organizations say, and will likely end operations weeks earlier than initially planned. .
In the month since it was anchored to shore, the dock has only been in service about 10 days. The rest of the time it has been repaired after being breached by the sea, detached to prevent further damage, or stopped for safety reasons.
The dock was never intended to be more than a stopgap measure as the Biden administration pressured Israel to allow more food and other supplies into Gaza via land routes, a much more efficient way to get aid through. But even the pier’s modest goals are likely to fall short, according to some U.S. military officials.
When the pier was conceived, health authorities warned that the territory was on the brink of famine. In recent weeks, Israel has allowed aid organizations greater access, but groups say the situation remains desperate.
The Biden administration initially predicted that the pier would be unusable in September due to rising seas. But military officials are now warning aid organizations that the project could be dismantled as early as next month, a looming deadline that officials say they hope will put pressure on Israel to open more land routes.
President Biden ordered the US military to begin building the pier in March, at a time when he was being heavily criticized for not doing more to curb Israel’s military response to the October 7 attacks led by Hamas.
The first aid trucks began to disembark on May 17. Since then, the project has run into difficulties, while many Gazans suffer from immense hunger, aid groups say.
In the latest blow to the relief effort, the U.S. military said Friday it would temporarily move the pier to prevent it from being damaged by high tide.
The decision “has not been made lightly, but is necessary to ensure that the temporary pier can continue to provide assistance in the future,” said the United States Central Command in a message posted on social media, indicating that the dock would be towed to Israel. Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Monday that the dock could be reconnected and aid delivery could resume later this week.
The dock “is not working, at least not for Palestinians,” Stephen Semler, co-founder of the Security Policy Reform Institute, wrote in an essay for Responsible Statecraft, a publication of the Quincy Institute. Mr. Semler argued that the pier had only succeeded in providing “humanitarian cover” for the Biden administration’s policy of supporting the Israeli bombing of Gaza.
US officials say that in addition to providing aid with many land routes closed, the pier also highlighted the urgent need to provide more overall humanitarian aid to Gaza. But the project’s problems have frustrated and disappointed senior Biden administration officials.
Despite weather-related delays and other problems, there has been one bright spot: The pier has not yet come under attack.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon rejected claims on social media that the pier had been used in an Israeli assault that freed four hostages but left dozens of Palestinians dead.
In the hours after the rescue, a video circulated on the Internet showing an Israeli military helicopter taking off from the beach with the American pier in the background.
Following the emergence of the videos, US Central Command said in a statement that the pier and “its equipment, personnel and assets were not used in today’s hostage rescue operation in Gaza.”
The US military was especially concerned about possible attacks because reports had emerged after the rescue that the United States had provided intelligence information about the hostages before the operation.
Last week, Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, denounced “inaccurate accusations on social media” that the dock was part of the rescue, but said “there was some type of helicopter activity” nearby. of the dock during operation.
Arlan Fuller, Project Hope’s emergency response director, said the image of the “helicopter taking off from the beach really contravened the general use of humanitarian space.” He added that the image “muddies the waters” and could put aid workers on the dock at greater risk.
Furthermore, Central Command had just announced that the dock was usable again after a break of almost two weeks for repairs when the hostages were rescued. A day later, the World Food Program said it had again suspended aid distribution from the dock due to security concerns.
Mr. Biden surprised the Pentagon when he suddenly announced the dock in his State of the Union address. Army engineers built and deployed the pier within two months, and about a thousand U.S. troops are now involved in some part of the project.
When Mr. Biden announced the project, officials predicted it would help deliver up to two million meals a day to Gazans. The Pentagon calls the project JLOTS (Joint Logistics Over the Shore), a capability it has previously used for humanitarian aid in Somalia, Kuwait and Haiti.
In the days the dock has been operational, it has allowed the delivery of thousands of tons of aid to Gaza, officials say.
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of Central Command, recently stated that the problems with the dock “were solely due to unforeseen weather conditions.”
Normally, spring and early summer on the coasts of Gaza are calmer. “Plan
Several Republican congressmen have criticized the project for its cost and potential risk to US troops.
“This irresponsible and costly experiment defies all logic except the most obvious political explanation: appeasing the president’s left wing,” Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said earlier this month. .
Aid workers say deliveries of food and other supplies have been slowed by shipping jams at border crossings, caused by lengthy truck inspections, limited operating hours and protests by Israelis.
Israel has argued that there are no limits to the amount of aid it allows in. He often blames disorganized aid groups – as well as Hamas thefts – for not being able to efficiently deliver food to Palestinians.
Central Command stated Friday that 3,500 tons of aid had been delivered to shore using the pier since the operation began on May 17, of which about 2,500 tons had been delivered since the pier was anchored. new and resumed operations on June 8.
But much of the aid that does arrive does not reach the Palestinians, aid groups say, because of logistical and security problems and looting.
Aid workers say only seven truckloads of aid a day reach Gaza through the dock, a far cry from the goal of reaching 150 truckloads a day.
“The volume is negligible,” said J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “And the seas are going to be increasingly rough.”
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