In this image from May 27, 2024, the damaged pier is shown floating in the water after operations were suspended because of adverse weather conditions and rising sea levels in Gaza. Dawoud Abo Alkas / Anadolu via Getty Images
US ‘winding down’ Gaza pier operations
Now, the issue is “getting aid around Gaza effectively,” national security advisor says.
The U.S. will “wind down” pier operations less than three months after announcing a temporary pier to rush desperately-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters Thursday on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C.
The United States first announced the pier operation in May, around the same time Israel closed the Rafah border crossing to commence operations there. The pier, really a U.S. Army Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore capability, was beset with weather problems almost immediately. The United States removed the pier at the end of June, because of weather conditions.
U.S. Central Command yesterday announced that U.S. operators and others attempted to “re-anchor the temporary pier to the beach in Gaza to resume humanitarian operations. However, due to technical and weather-related issues, CENTCOM personnel were unable to re-anchor the pier to the shore … The pier and support vessels and equipment are returning to Ashdod where they will remain until further notice. A re-anchoring date has not been set.”
The pier enabled the United States to deliver nearly 20 million pounds of humanitarian aid into Gaza without having to put any U.S. troops on the ground, according to CENTCOM.
“Over days and weeks that it was being delivered has made a difference in trying to deal with the heartbreaking humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Sullivan said Thursday.
That 20 million pounds met only a tiny percentage of the humanitarian need in Gaza. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC initiative, a partnership organization that assesses food crises, the situation in Gaza does not meet the technical definition of famine yet. But a June 25 report from the group found that “About 96 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip (2.15M people) face high levels of acute food insecurity through September 2024.”
The United States has accused Hamas of diverting food supplies that come into Gaza.
Said Sullivan: “The real issue right now is not about getting aid into Gaza. It's about getting aid around Gaza effectively. It's partly why Israel announced this daily humanitarian pause to try to create better conditions.”
Sullivan said Israel has opened two access points into Gaza, at Sha'ar Efraim and Erez, largely at the behest of the Biden administration.