The U.S. is considering not re-installing it unless aid begins flowing out into the population again.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The pier built by the U.S. military to bring aid to Gaza is being removed due to weather to protect it, and the U.S. is considering not re-installing it unless aid begins flowing out into the population again, several U.S. officials said Friday.
While the military has helped deliver desperately needed food through the pier, the vast majority of it is still sitting in the adjacent storage yard because of the difficulty that agencies have had moving it to areas in Gaza where it is most needed, and that storage area is almost full.
We (well, not me, but someone) airlifted food into Berlin for almost a year. The pier is theater, meant to look like they're doing something. If they really wanted to help, they would make sure the supplies actually got to the people that need it, and not leave it on the beach waiting for more fish to evolve legs.
They have plenty of aid on land. The obstacle is land delivery to Gaza due to Israeli attacks, not weather damage to the pier.
The pier has been used to get more than 19.4 million pounds, or 8.6 million kilograms, of food into Gaza but has faced multiple setbacks.
She noted that the secure area onshore is “pretty close to full,” but that the intention is still to get aid into Gaza by all means necessary. She said the U.S. is having discussions with the aid agencies about the distribution of the food.
The big challenge has been that humanitarian convoys have stopped carrying the aid from the pier’s storage area further into Gaza, to get it into civilian hands, because they have come under attack.
A reminder this pier basically did nothing more than generate a headline and political posture so it looks like biden did something for Palestinians. Also a reminder that an attack was launched from their pier where many Palestinians were killed by the israelis.