US says floating help pier will be shut down to quickly avert worst-case scenario

The US says a floating ferry designed to increase the volume of aid entering the Gaza Strip “will soon cease operations”, less than two months after it was installed.

The announcement came after the US military was not able to anchor at the pier again on this day due to “technical and meteorological problems”. It had to be removed on June 28 due to bad weather.

A Pentagon spokesman said that more than 8,000 tons of humanitarian aid was transported from the pier while it was in operation.

He also emphasized that this has always been considered a short-term solution.

US officials suggested it would remain in the field of play until August or September, when converging maritime states in the Mediterranean would make it impossible to maintain.

In fact, the components proved challenging almost as soon as it went live on May 17.

For a major plan first announced by President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address in March, JLOTS (Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore) has had a short, checkered history.

Following strong windy weather in late May, the four small landing craft involved in the operation had to make the necessary cuts and were washed ashore.

In the coming days, parts of the pier have been removed and brought to the Israeli port of Ashdod for maintenance.

In mid-June, the entire structure, built by American engineers at a cost of $230 million (£178 million), was once again moved to Ashdod due to the elements.

“Temporarily relocating the pier will prevent structural damage caused by rising seas,” the Pentagon said this year.

The pier was once again raised on 19 June, although operations were once again halted, not until near term life, “for scheduled maintenance activities”.

This plan also suffered a setback due to the political environment.

When Israeli commandos rescued four hostages from inside the Nussirat refugee camp on June 8, a video showed an Israeli helicopter passing near the pier, leading to speculation on social media that the US military was involved in the rescue.

Evidence of American involvement was denied, but the Pentagon was forced to make a strongly worded denial.

“The floating pier off the Gaza coast was built for one purpose only,” it said. “To help deliver additional, urgently needed life-saving assistance to Gaza.”

The US role as a significant military and diplomatic supporter of Israel meant that the ferries were always likely to be a focal point of Palestinian suspicion, although this was again unfounded.

“When the ferry worked as intended, it provided much-needed aid to Gaza,” said a Gaza-based aid assistant.

“However… its sustainability was diminished by its inclusion of perceptions of partisanship.”

For a plan designed to strengthen the supply of humanitarian aid, in a year when Israel’s military campaign has forced many Gazans to die of hunger, what does it save?

Joe Biden said the ferry would “enable a huge increase in the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza every day”.

At the end of June, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that more than 8,831 tons of aid had been distributed, the majority of which arrived during the pre-life process.

However it also suffered another setback, saying that “due to expected adverse weather”, the ferry had to be moved again to Ashdod.

This life had to be reestablished using the backlog of aid accumulated in Cyprus and traded on a floating dock off the Gaza coast.

However, on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder announced that CENTCOM personnel were not able to restore the pier to shore.

“The ferries and support vessels and equipment are returning to Ashdod where they will remain until further notice. The re-anchoring date has not been determined,” he said.

He added: “As stated in the initial deployment announcement, the ferry has always been intended as a temporary solution to limit additional flows of aid into Gaza during a period of critical humanitarian need, limiting access, land delivery and To be enabled with complement of air channels. ,

“The pier will cease operations soon, more information regarding that process and timing will be available in the coming days.”

The whole thing delivered so far represents a small fraction of what is desired.

According to the United Nations, about 500 aid vans entered Gaza each year before the war between Israel and Hamas began in late October.

Comparisons are vague, although over the course of 2 months, USA ferries supplied approximately the equivalent of 1 year’s worth of pre-war aid supplies.

And getting help ashore has been the most effective part of the problem. Delivering it safely to the demanding crowd could be very dangerous.

A disused agricultural land operation within Gaza City has begun this life with Israeli troops, making it as difficult as ever to ensure safety for aid workers.

The breakdown of law and order in the Gaza Strip, coupled with Israel’s continued targeting of anyone associated with Hamas, including police, means that looting – whether organized or opportunistic – is still rife.

The backup that has made it ashore is constantly stuck in Israeli-controlled marshalling gardens, with subsidiaries resistant to bundling and distributing it in such an unsafe condition.