WASHINGTON (AP) — A series of security, logistical and weather problems has derailed plans to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Pier built by the US military.
The project, which collapsed due to high winds and rough seas just a week after it began operation, has faced criticism that it did not live up to or meet initial expectations. $320 million price tag.
However, U.S. officials said the steel breakwater connecting the Gaza Strip coast to the floating dock had been damaged. Under repair It will be reassembled at a port in southern Israel and is due to be reinstalled and back in operation next week.
Initial estimates from the Department of Defense had suggested that the wharf could move up to 150 truckloads of aid per day when fully operational. It hasn’t happened yetBad weather has delayed the delivery of aid from the pier to Gaza. Israeli forces attack southern city of Rafah Getting aid to the region by road has become difficult, if not impossible at times.
Aid groups have reacted differently, welcoming any amount of aid for besieged and starving Palestinians in the nearly eight-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, but also decrying the pier as a distraction from pressure for Israel to open a border crossing that would be far more productive.
Bob Kitchen, an executive director at the International Rescue Committee, called it a “sideshow.”
The Biden administration has said from the start that the pier is not a complete solution and that any assistance would be helpful.
“Nobody ever said from the beginning that this was going to be a panacea for all of the remaining humanitarian problems in Gaza,” national security spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. “I think sometimes there’s an expectation that because the U.S. military is so good, everything they touch is going to instantly turn to gold.”
“We knew this was going to be tough,” he added, “and it has proven to be tough.”
Before the war, an average of 500 truckloads of aid were arriving in Gaza every day. The US Agency for International Development says a steady stream of 600 trucks a day is needed to ease food shortages and bring people back from displacement centers. On the brink of starvation.
These images released by Maxar Technologies show the newly completed pier (top) in the Gaza Strip on May 18, 2024, and the remaining temporary pier on May 29, 2024. A series of safety, logistical and weather issues have derailed plans to deliver badly needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a US military-built pier. Critics have complained that the project, which collapsed due to high winds and rough seas just over a week after it began operation, has not lived up to initial expectations or its $320 million cost. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via The Associated Press)
The aid delivered from the pier was enough to feed several thousand people for a month, but fell far short of the overall needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, according to UN data.
Here’s a look at the pier’s timeline, the problems it’s faced, and what could happen next.
March: Announcement and preparation
March 7: Announced by President Joe Biden During his State of the Union address, he spoke of his plans to have the U.S. military build the pier.
“Tonight, I am directing U.S. military forces to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of the Gaza Strip, to receive large quantities of food, water, medicine and temporary shelter,” he said.
But even in those first minutes, he noted that while the pier would increase the amount of humanitarian aid reaching the Gaza Strip, Israel “must do its part” and accept more aid.
March 8: Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that deploying troops and constructing the project could take “up to 60 days.”
March 12: Four U.S. military ships loaded with tons of equipment and steel pier sections leave Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia, heading out into the Atlantic Ocean for the month-long voyage to Gaza.
The brigade’s commander, Army Col. Sam Miller, warned that transportation and construction will be highly dependent on weather and high waves encountered.
Late March: U.S. warships encounter high waves and rough weather while crossing the Atlantic, slowing their travel speed.
April: Construction and Hope
April 1st: Seven World Central Kitchen aid worker He was killed in an Israeli airstrike while traveling in a clearly marked vehicle on an Israeli-authorized delivery mission.
The attack raised concerns about the safety of relief workers and prompted aid agencies to suspend the delivery of humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip.
April 19: US officials confirm that the UN World Food Programme has agreed to help deliver aid to Gaza by sea once construction is complete.
25 April: Construction of a major coastal port facility near Gaza City begins to take shape. The land-based site will be where aid will be delivered from the causeway and handed over to aid agencies.
April 30: Satellite images show the U.S. Navy ship USNS Roy P. Benavides and Army ships working on assembling a pier and causeway on a beach about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from the port.
May: The pier opens… and closes
May 9: The US ship Sagamore is the first aid ship to leave Cyprus, bound for the Gaza Strip and finally the pier. Cyprus has elaborate security and inspection stations set up to screen aid shipments coming from multiple countries.
May 16th: Well over the 60 day target time, Pier Construction and Assembly Work on a causeway connecting the Gaza Strip’s offshore port to the coastline has been completed after more than a week of delays due to weather and other factors.
May 17: The first truck carrying relief supplies Supplies destined for Gaza will be transported from a newly constructed pier to a safe area on land, where they will be unloaded and distributed to aid agencies for transport by truck to the Gaza Strip.
18 May: A mob of desperate Palestinians attacked a convoy of relief trucks coming from the docks, stealing the cargo from 11 of the 16 vehicles before they reached a UN warehouse for distribution.
May 19-20: First meal off the pier A limited number of nutritious biscuits are being delivered to needy people in central Gaza, according to the World Food Programme.
Aid groups will suspend deliveries from the dock for two days while the United States works with Israel to open an alternative land route from the dock and improve security.
May 24: Just over 1,000 tons of aid have been delivered to Gaza so far via a US-built jetty, and USAID subsequently announced that all of it has been distributed within Gaza.
May 25: High winds and rough seas damaged the pier, running four U.S. military vessels operating there aground, injuring three servicemen, one of them seriously.
Two boats ran aground near the base of a pier in the Gaza Strip, and two more ran aground near Ashkelon, Israel.
28 May: Defence Ministry spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said most of the causeway had been salvaged from shore and was being transported to an Israeli port for repairs. The base of the causeway remains on the Gaza Strip coast.
She also said aid supplies for Cyprus had been loaded onto ships and were ready to be unloaded as soon as the pier was back in place.
29 May: Two army vessels that were stranded in bad weather are now back at sea, while the remaining two near the pier have been freed with the help of the Israeli Navy.
What’s next?
The Pentagon said sections of the causeway would be reassembled over the next few days and then shipped back to Gaza’s beaches by the middle of next week, where the causeway would be reconnected to the shore.
“Once we can get the jetty secured again, you will start to see a pretty steady flow of aid,” Singh said Tuesday. “We intend to keep this temporary jetty operational for as long as possible.”
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Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed.
