A temporary floating pier that was intended to bring food and other aid into Gaza has been officially terminated, according to the Department of Defense. While the White House is touting the operation as a success, it cost hundreds of millions of dollars and provided only a trickle of aid to desperate Palestinians.
In March, during his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden announced the creation of a sea route to bring aid into Gaza. The White House hoped the pier would bring hundreds of trucks full of supplies to the besieged enclave daily, and relieve mounting political pressure on Biden to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people by ending support for Tel Aviv.
Following the SOTU address, aid agencies warned that the sea route would not be a sufficient source of aid for Palestinians and would distract from the need to open more land crossings into Gaza, which human rights experts said is the most efficient way to get food into the territory.
In the four months since Biden ordered the creation of the pier, it has only been in operation for 20 days. On multiple occasions, the sea route was shuttered by rough seas. Additionally, the World Food Program stopped distributing the meager amount of aid that did reach Gaza over safety concerns.
During that period, Israel seized the Gaza-Egypt border, destroying the Rafah border crossing that previously served as Gaza’s main lifeline. Following those operations in early May, the number of Palestinians near famine has only grown.
During the pier’s limited days in operation, three US soldiers working on the project sustained injuries. Other troops were put within the range of the fighting in Gaza. While the Department of Defense insisted that no US troops would enter the Strip, a US military vehicle was photographed in shallow water on the beach.
Despite these failures, the Pentagon is claiming the pier was a success. “Our assessment is that the temporary pier has achieved its intended effect to surge a very high volume of aid into Gaza and ensure that aid reaches the civilians in Gaza in a quick manner,” Central Command deputy commander Vice Adm. Brad Cooper told reporters on Wednesday.
Cooper claimed nearly 20 million pounds of aid reached Gaza through the sea route, although it is unclear what percentage of that assistance actually made it to the Palestinian people.
