The initial planning before this occasion was Reinstall the pier for a few days Aid carried the usual pallets ashore and the ensuing removal of it entirely, although rough seas postponed restoration.
White Space and Protection Area both noted that the ferry would cease operations “soon”, but did not specify the timing. Alternative US officials said the Pentagon and US Central Command were actively discussing an early end to pier operations Climate and some maintenance issues Build it up some distance and it will be less interesting to reconnect just for a trim past.
President Joe Biden, who announced the construction of the pier during his State of the Union address in March, expressed regret that it did not go as expected.
“I’m disappointed that some of the things I put forward have not come to fruition – like the port we added to Cyprus,” Biden said during his news conference Thursday. “I had hoped it would be more successful.”
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk about internal deliberations, said there is no final solution yet and that if things calm down for a while, it is unlikely they will reach something like this. Can add again for time.
Across Washington, officials were signaling the end of a challenge fraught with weather and security concerns, but also with the delivery of more than 19.4 million pounds (8.6 million kilograms) of aid to starving civilians in Gaza. nine month war The tussle between Israel and Hamas continues.
“I expect that in a relatively short period of time we will be able to shut down pier operations,” Jake Sullivan, White Space’s national security adviser, told Newshound on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Washington on Thursday. “The real thing right now is not about getting aid into Gaza. “This is about successfully going around Gaza.”
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement that U.S. military personnel were “unable to re-anchor the shore as planned” on this occasion, and no opportunity to re-engage it is now prepared. Has gone. “The pier will soon cease operations,” he said, citing an incorrect timeline.
Some aid still remains offshore and in Cyprus, but officials said they are considering additional plans to provide aid to the Israeli port in Ashdod. The port has been seen as the most likely option for the movement of supplies from Cyprus to Gaza.
Despite the problems with the pier, Sullivan described the mission as a privilege.
“Look, I see any outcome that produces more food, more humanitarian goods, reaching the people of Gaza,” Sullivan said. “It’s additive. The only thing that remains is that when it was given there, we should not have got there in a different way. And that’s a very good thing.”
The total amount of aid delivered, Ryder said, “represents the largest volume of aid delivered by a U.S. military in a three-month period and the largest humanitarian response ever to the Middle East region.”
And Samantha Energy, administrator of the American World Construction Company, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the ocean has provided enough food to feed 450,000 of Gaza’s 2.3 million families for a year.
“When the ferries were brought on line, it was one of the most desperate moments in this crisis,” Energy said, speaking back and forth with Israel over an effort to bolster humanitarian supplies into Gaza. “So it’s become, I think, a bigger part of meeting food needs than people are aware of.”
Working climate issues Since the pier was installed in May, the Army has been pressured thrice to remove it as soon as possible. And the mission has also been hampered by security blackmail that has caused aid agencies to halt the delivery of food and alternative supplies to Gaza.
While aid groups have said they are welcome to provide any amount of food to Gaza, many have criticized the project as an expensive distraction, and have said the US should direct additional aid through land borders to Israel. Attention will need to be paid to pressing for permission to do so, as has long been regarded as perhaps the most fertile option.
The United Nations suspended all international food program deliveries from the pier following an Israeli military attack on June 8 that took four Israeli hostages but killed several Palestinians, citing that The soldiers wore a spot there to evacuate the hostages rescued via helicopter.
The support flowing across the pier began to be stored within the retained section of the seabed, although WFP eventually hired contractors to transport it to coastal farms for additional distribution. The security sector noted on the occasion that a large amount of assistance was provided.
The Pentagon always insisted that the ferries — a military tool called the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, capability — were only supposed to be a temporary fix. And it mentions that it was once a playground set up as a stopgap, with current authorities working with the Israelis to clear land routes.
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Corresponding Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington and Ami Ben Tov in Ashdod, Israel.
