A damaged floating pier, set up by US to facilitate quicker delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Photo / Getty Images
A damaged floating pier, set up by US to facilitate quicker delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Photo / Getty Images
The Pentagon declared an end to its sea-based humanitarian mission off Gaza, an effort that enabled delivery of tonnes of food and other supplies to the war-ravaged territory even as it faced near-constant setbacks and ultimately fell short of expectations.
“The maritime surge mission involving thepier is complete,” Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the No 2 officer at US Central Command, which coordinates all US military operations in the Middle East, told reporters during a news briefing. The operation will shift to the Israeli port in Ashdod, where personnel will continue to facilitate aid deliveries, he added.
The floating pier project was announced by President Biden in March, with administration officials forecasting that it would allow for up to 2 million meals per day to reach starving Palestinians caught in the crossfire between Israeli military forces and Hamas militants.
The President, speaking then during his State of the Union address, said the scope of suffering and starvation in Gaza made the US mission a moral necessity, and he stressed that no US troops would go ashore – seemingly attempting to find a tenuous balance between putting Americans in harm’s way and idly standing by as famine compounded the war’s civilian toll.
Relatives of Palestinians, who were killed by Israeli attacks on UNRWA school. Photo / Getty Images
But once under way, the operation, with an estimated cost of US$230 million (NZ$378 million), faced myriad complications. Consistently rough seas battered and damaged the structure, forcing it to halt operations again and again. Crucially, the aid groups expected to distribute the food once it reached land were reluctant to do so, citing persistent fears for their workers’ safety as the war’s staggering number of civilian casualties has continued to climb.
The operation has delivered about 20 million kilos of food ashore since it began May 17 – a fraction of what humanitarian groups say is needed as Israeli officials have resisted US and international demands to let more aid into Gaza by land.
