After operating the wooden wharf in a stop-and-go fashion for weeks, the U.S. military has actually ended its Gaza help pier mission.
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the assistant chief of the U. S. Central Command, announced the end of the charitable pier goal in a Wednesday, July 17,  , speech.
From the moment the wharf went into operation in mid-May to its last evening anchored to the Gazan shore, it had operated for about 20 days, and enabled the transport of 19.4 million pounds of food, health, and other humanitarian supplies.
The Pier’s Operational Past
Following a dangerous Feb. 29 event in which dozens of people were hurt and killed waiting for an overland supply of food items, President Joe Biden ordered the construction of this philanthropic offer hall in March. After the Feb. 29 event, conflicting reports emerged, with the Jewish military reporting that the majority of the injured and killed were trampled as they rushed a offer fleet. Other , accounts , alleged Israeli troops fired on the masses as they ventured near to a local Israeli military station, and that this also contributed to a frenzy. The Israeli government has  , acknowledged , firing toward a group near the supply path.
On May 16, the U.S. government and Jewish partners anchored the help pier on the shore of Gaza. From there, the pier , operated for about eight days , before stormy seas scattered U. S. Army arteries supporting the construction and damaged the wharf.
The jetty was removed from Ashdod, Israel’s port area, and CENTCOM rebuilt it on June 7. The U.S. military announced on June 14 that they had moved the wharf to Ashdod to prevent rough sea conditions.
On June 20, CENTCOM made a second anchorage of the wharf along the shores of Gaza. By June 28, CENTCOM had suddenly removed the wharf, to rush out another round of poor weather.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced last week that CENTCOM would soon be completing its port quest, but he provided no particular date. On July 12, the Pentagon , announced , a failed effort to re-anchor the jetty but left their future plans for the wharf vague.
With his Wednesday news, Cooper indicated that the wharf vision was actually over. CENTCOM did not make a last-ditch work to briefly reattach the pier in order to process any more aid.
Pier Operations Questioned
During its two months of active service, the U.S. army received several inquiries regarding the wharf mission.
In a fatal operation to save Jewish hostages who had been detained in Gaza since October 7, Israeli forces landed a helicopter close to the wharf on June 8. Gazans and a number of foreign observers questioned whether the plane was being used to support military activities rather than just humanitarian work while the plane was in the area during the procedure.
Pentagon , officials , denied the support pier had supported the Jewish rescue mission, but doubts have persisted. By June 10, the United Nations had , confirmed , its World Food Program had suspended activities through the wharf while it reviewed whether the wharf was being used for military reasons.
Additionally, U.S. defense personnel have been questioned about the pier’s performance.
Prior to the start of the jetty activity, the U. S. military , repeatedly , said , the structure would be able to practice up to 90 truckloads of supplies each time, and gradually build capacity for 150 truckloads a day. When the pier started to operate, U.S. military officials switched to weight as their main delivery method, leaving it unclear whether the pier was able to handle the most traffic. At a May 21  press briefing, reporters had repeatedly requested clarification for the weight to truckload conversion, but Maj. Gen. Ryder and the Pentagon spokesman refused to respond.
The distribution of aid within the Gaza Strip has also received questions. A marshaling area further inland, guarded by Israeli forces, had received aid from trucks passing over the aid pier. From there, it’s unclear how much of the aid has left the marshaling area for broader distribution among the blighted territory’s general population.
The Department of Defense and the United States Agency for International Development ( USAID ) inspectors general announced on June 27 that they would review both the pier mission and the efforts to distribute aid from the marshaling area.
Continued Aid Challenges
Cooper stated that ships carrying sea-based humanitarian aid will now drop off at Ashdod. They will then be transported by truck overland into the Gaza Strip.
While trucking aid overland is the most cost-effective delivery method, they can still face disruptions.
Recent reports have surfaced that Israeli activists purposefully impede and loot aid delivery convoys. They assert that Israel’s allies in Gaza are regaining control of the aid once it has entered the troubled territory, and that stopping the deliveries is necessary to defeat their allies.
Last month, U. S. government , announced , sanctions against one of these Israeli activist groups blocking overland aid convoys, Tzav 9. The Biden administration has urged the Israeli government to make sure aid can continue to enter the Gaza Strip.
It’s unclear how many supply trucks actually arrive in the Gaza Strip. About 500 truckloads of supplies must be delivered daily, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine ( UNRWA ).
As of July 15, UNRWA had reported some 25, 188 trucks of supplies have reached the Gaza Strip in a 268-day period since Oct. 21, two weeks into the current Israel-Hamas conflict. That’s less than a fifth of the expected need, or 94 aid trucks reaching the troubled territory every day. Supplies brought in by sea or delivered by airdrop are not taken into account in this calculation.
The United Nation’s latest famine assessment, known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification ( IPC ),  , states , 96 percent of the Gaza Strip’s population (around 2.1 million people ) face “high levels of acute food insecurity through September 2024″. The IPC assessment puts the entirety of the Gaza Strip in its Phase 4″ Emergency” classification, the second-most dire phase of food insecurity. This same assessment finds about 495, 000 people (around 22 percent of the population ) is in the IPC Phase 5″ Famine” classification.
This article was originally , published , by , FreeBase News , and is reprinted with permission.
