The US defense announced on Wednesday that its goal to set up and run a momentary floating wharf off the coast of Gaza was over, putting an unusual but contentious efforts to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the world.
President Joe Biden announced the wharf during a televised address to Congress in March, and it was a large project that required the execution of about 1, 000 US troops. In May, assistance began flowing via the wharf to Gaza, an initiative meant to stop hunger after months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
However, the US military claims that this was its largest help delivery work ever in the Middle East due to bad weather and logistical issues in Gaza. The pier’s operation lasted for about 20 weeks.
The pier’s coastal wave mission is complete, the pier’s representative said. So there’s no more need to use the pier”, Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the assistant commander of US Central Command, told a media presentation.
Cooper claimed that attempts to deliver aid to Gaza arriving by water would now be directed to the established harbor of Ashdod in Israel. In the upcoming weeks, he predicted that at least 5 million pounds of support will be delivered to Ashdod, either on ships or in Cyprus.
According to Cooper,” we think the momentary pier has achieved its intended effect,” ensuring that help arrives in Gaza quickly andreaches the residents there.
After weeks of steadfastly supporting Israel’s punishing battle on Hamas, Biden’s pier became a sore place in Congress, where Republicans criticized it as a political ploy. President Biden may be over on this topic, but the national disgrace that this job has caused is not. The sole magic is that this doomed-from-the-start function did not cost any British life”, Senator Roger Wicker, the leading Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.
Cooper claimed that he anticipated a lower price for the pier than the$ 230 million the Pentagon had anticipated. The pier was authorized to be used until the end of July.
Cooper claimed that Ashdod has so far provided more than 1 million kg of help and that he was convinced that more could be delivered there.
” We look forward to millions of pounds of support passing through that path,” he said.
While the pier brought in sorely needed aid to a marshalling area on Gaza’s shore, the 1, 200-foot-long ( 370-metre-long ) floating pier had to be removed multiple times because of bad weather.
Since June, the pier has n’t been used since it was moved due to rough seas to Ashdod port. If the US government had started dismantling the jetty at Ashdod before its anticipated return to the country was unknown, it was questionable.
Due to security concerns, the UN World Food Programme halted operations at the wharf in June, which resulted in the accumulation of help on the Gaza shoreline.
The UN has stated for a long time that property entry cannot be replaced by maritime deliveries. According to the statement, support operations in the region’s enclave must continue to focus on land routes because a world hunger monitor last month declared there was a great risk of famine.
According to aid officials, 600 trucks of philanthropic and corporate goods are needed in Gaza every day to meet the needs of the populace.
