This was to be the beginning of a solution to bring some humanitarian aid into the devastated Gaza enclave. And it’s ultimately a huge failure… The use of the temporary jetty, built by the United States, has been suspended. The reason ? It was damaged by difficult weather conditions. “Since it was operational, it was working, but we had sort of an unfortunate succession of weather storms that rendered it inoperable for a period of time,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Tuesday.
The immense floating metal structure, as long as five American football fields, was built to transport humanitarian aid, while the Jewish state imposed severe restrictions on its land delivery. It was supposed to allow 90 trucks to pass through each day, then 150 in the coming weeks. In two weeks of operation, the pier was able to transport 1,000 tonnes of food. Valuable aid that the logistical incident has just disrupted, at least for seven days.
“The reconstruction and repair of the pier will take at least more than a week,” Sabrina Singh, deputy Pentagon spokesperson, said during a press briefing, as humanitarian aid deliveries are crucial for more than two millions of Gazans facing food shortages. “Once the repair and reconstruction of the pier is completed, the aim is to anchor the temporary pier again on the coast of Gaza and resume the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people who need it most,” a- she added.
“A drop of water in the ocean”
This pier, whose cost is around $320 million, has been widely criticized by humanitarians. The commissioning of the artificial port on May 17 has also been described as a “drop in the ocean” compared to the immense needs of the Gazan population, half of whom are threatened by “induced famine”. by the hand of man,” according to the United Nations. These “additional crossing points” and “new initiatives, such as the new floating port, have only given the illusion of improvement”, alerted around twenty NGOs in a joint declaration published on May 29 .
The vice-president of Médecins du monde, Jean-François Corty, for his part, described the pier as a “humanitarian fiasco”: “Even when it is operating at full capacity, this system will barely cover 10% of needs. This powder communication eyes allows the Americans to justify their unconditional support for the Israeli army, which carries out massacres.”
However, this is not the first setback for the American pier. On Saturday, four US military boats used for this pier ran aground due to “rough seas”, the US Middle East Military Command (Centcom) said. “The ships have detached themselves from their anchorage and two ships are now moored on the beach near the pontoon. The third and fourth ships are stranded on the Israeli coast near Ashkelon,” notes a press release. Centcom, however, clarified that no soldiers were injured.