End for Biden’s controversial emergency aid pier in Gaza

The US is thus putting an end to what was supposed to be a temporary measure to help starving Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

The US originally hoped that the floating jetty would make it possible to bring in large quantities of emergency aid to Gaza. But critics label the entire project a failure that failed to prevent the famine that threatens Gaza’s civilian population.

Right from the start, aid organizations have condemned the project as a waste of time and money. The UN has warned that emergency supplies from the sea can never replace routes on land.

DKK 2.4 billion

During the past few months, 8,600 tonnes of emergency aid have been brought from Cyprus to Gaza via the floating jetty, according to a Cypriot source who Reuters have talked to. This corresponds to around 425 lorry loads. According to aid organisations, Gaza has a daily need to bring in around 600 trucks of emergency aid and commercial goods to meet the population’s needs.

Earlier this year, around a thousand US engineer soldiers spent two months building the provisional pier, which has a price tag of just over NOK 2.4 billion.

On 17 May it was put into service, but just one week later it was damaged in bad weather and was taken away for repairs.

On 7 June it was put into use once more, but even then it only lasted for a week. On June 28, it was towed to the Israeli port city of Ashdod.

Big ambitions

Earlier in July, the floating jetty was to be put into use once more, but only for a few days. Then American engineer soldiers were to dismantle it and transport it back to the United States, AP’s sources said on July 9. On Wednesday, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper declared the end of the Gaza dock project, saying it has achieved its desired effect.

It was President Joe Biden who, in his address to the nation in March, presented the extensive plans for an American emergency aid pier to remedy the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Biden acknowledged earlier in July that he is disappointed that the project was not more successful. The Americans aimed to bring in between 90 and 150 trucks with emergency aid daily via the jetty.

Security issues

The US Defense Force has acknowledged that the weather conditions presented more problems than expected. But Pentagon sources have also expressed frustration that aid organizations have been unable or unwilling to distribute the emergency aid, which has thus piled up on land.

However, a decisive factor that neither US defense nor the aid agencies might control was the Israeli military’s military offensive in Gaza, which put the aid workers in constant danger and in many cases killed them.

The result was that the jetty was in operation for fewer than 25 days following it was set up. Aid workers took advantage of only half of those days due to safety concerns.

The Port of Ashdod

Other aid organizations have described the US project as a distraction and said that the Americans should rather pressure Israel to open more border crossings on land. Everyone agrees that it is the most efficient way to get aid in, but the Israeli military has routinely blocked routes and delayed deliveries through inspections.

Aid organizations have also been attacked by Hamas, and armed gangs have looted aid shipments as the situation in Gaza becomes increasingly desperate.

At the same time, over 1,000 American soldiers, who mostly lived on boats off the coast of Gaza, have been fighting to keep the jetty in operation. Much of the time was spent on repairs and disassembly, floating and reassembly as a result of bad weather.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that a new breakwater will soon be established in Ashdod for emergency aid deliveries to Gaza. He did not say when it is scheduled to be operational.

Before Israel in May extended its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to Rafah in the south, most aid entered Gaza via the border crossing with Egypt, or the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing. In April, an average of 189 trucks entered Gaza daily through the border crossings in the south, according to the UN.