After spending $320 million and risking the lives of hundreds of U.S. servicemen and engineers, the Biden administration is finally pulling the plug on the floating pier off the coast of Gaza.
“The U.S. military-built pier to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza will be dismantled and brought home,” the Associated Press reported Wednesday. The troubled “pier operated for fewer than 25 days after its installation May 16, and aid agencies used it only about half that time due to security concerns,” the news agency added.
Even before the pier could get operational, Palestinian terrorists shelled the construction site, damaging engineering equipment and reportedly injuring at least one U.S. worker. “Members of a terror group in the Gaza Strip launched mortars at an under-construction pier for a US-led project to bring aid into the Palestinian enclave,” The Times of Israel reported on April 24.
The Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported Thursday:
The US said on Thursday that it had closed its humanitarian aid pier on the Gazan coast.According to a statement by USAID, 19 million pounds of aid had been transferred (almost 9,000 tons) since the maritime pier opened in May.US closes Gaza humanitarian pier – 19 million pounds of aid transferredPier ‘improved the protection of humanitarian workers and the facilitation of humanitarian operations in the context of the maritime corridor,’ USAID saysIn collaboration with international partners, the Defense Department and the UN shipped the aid from the Cypriot port of Larnaca. The statement said that the aid was enough to feed 450,000 people for a month.”This effort has improved the protection of humanitarian workers and the facilitation of humanitarian operations in the context of the maritime corridor,” USAID said.Despite the closure, USAID stressed that Israel must continue facilitating the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip. US aid will continue to flow via the Ashdod port of southern Israel.The closure comes after numerous problems encountered in the pier’s operations, with bad weather in the seas forcing it to temporarily halt activity several times.
In March, President Joe Biden announced the plan to build a pier for aid deliveries to Gaza. “I’m directing the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters,” President Biden declared.
“This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day,” the president boasted. The ill-thought-out project repeatedly ran into trouble due to rough seas, bad weather, and maintenance issues.
The pier project, operational only for four weeks, was built at a heavy cost. “The Pentagon spent $320 million and engaged 1,000 soldiers and sailors to open a major maritime corridor,” The Wall Street Journal noted on May 25.
The Israeli military, engaged in bitter fighting with Hamas terrorists, diverted troops to secure President Biden’s faltering project. “Israel has agreed to provide security for the temporary pier the U.S. military is planning to build in Gaza. Under the plans being discussed …, the Israel Defense Forces would establish a “security bubble” to protect the U.S. personnel building the pier as well as the individuals involved in offloading and distributing the aid,” Politico reported on March 26, citing a U.S. official.
While the Biden White House was spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get aid to Gazans via floating pier and airdrops, Hamas was firing rockets at humanitarian crossings — killing Israeli soldiers securing aid supplies into Gazax
Two months after the IDF launched the ground operation to capture Rafah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Hamas stronghold, Israeli media reported Tuesday afternoon.
Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed not to relinquish control over the strategic Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt. The corridor is riddled with tunnels used weapons smuggling and moving terrorist fighters across the border.
The Jerusalem Post reported to the details of the visit
cause in Gaza as well as the heroism of its soldiers while he was in Washington.It’s essential for Israel to hold onto the Rafah Crossing and the strategic buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza known as the Philadelphi Corridor, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday during his first visit there since Israel seized the area in May.“The understanding that our possession of the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah crossing are essential only grew stronger” during this visit, Netanyahu told the soldiers serving there.He spoke as efforts continued for a deal to secure the release of the remaining 120 hostages in Gaza. The issue of control of the Philadelphi Corridor has been one of the sticking points in the talks, with security officials stating that other options were possible, including an underground barrier that would prevent weapons from smuggling in that area.
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