The U.S. military has been forced to suspend aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip by sea due to damage caused by bad weather to its temporary pier system off Gaza. Army engineers are currently working to repair the pier, and the Defense Department hopes it will be fully operational in just over a week. This setback is the latest in a series of issues faced by the temporary pier system, which was announced by President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address in March and became operational just two weeks ago. The pier is vital for delivering aid into Gaza to help combat famine, which the U.N. says has broken out in the north of the besieged Strip.
The damage to the causeway attached to the beach in Gaza, through which aid is shuttled from the floating dock, could take up to a week to repair. Additionally, small U.S. military boats involved in ferrying aid broke from their moorings in bad weather over the weekend, with two washing up on the coast of southern Israel and the other two beaching in Gaza. An American service member is in critical condition in an Israeli hospital after suffering noncombat injuries on the pier, with two others sustaining minor injuries. The temporary pier, officially known as a Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore capability, is intended to increase aid delivery to Gaza and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in the region.
Israeli security officials in Cyprus inspect aid ships before they sail for the temporary pier located several miles off the coast of Gaza. The causeway attached to the beach was damaged, as seen in a video that circulated on Israeli social media showing a piece floating in the Mediterranean. The video also depicted at least one truck on the detached section of the causeway. When at full operating capacity, the pier is capable of delivering up to 150 trucks’ worth of aid daily, according to the Pentagon. Despite the setbacks faced by the sea deliveries, the U.S. military has also been dropping aid into Gaza by parachute, a method criticized for its cost and effectiveness compared to land crossings controlled by Egypt and Israel.
The difficulties in delivering aid to Gaza come at a crucial time, with the International Criminal Court seeking the arrest of several Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes, including starvation of civilians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman are among those targeted by the ICC, alongside Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas officials. Israel has denied the allegations and pointed to the temporary pier system as evidence of its efforts to provide aid to Gaza through sea, air, and land routes. The challenges faced by the U.S. military in delivering aid highlight the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the complex political and military dynamics at play in the region.
