A series of security, logistical and weather problems have derailed a plan to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a bridge. Pier built by the US Army.
Broke apart by strong winds and heavy waves just over a week into operation, the project is facing criticism for not living up to its initial billing or commitments. The price is $320 million.
But US officials say the steel bridge is connected to the beach in Gaza and the floating dock It is fixed It will be reassembled at a port in southern Israel, then reinstalled and commissioned again next week.
While early Pentagon estimates indicated the dock could transport up to 150 truckloads of aid per day when fully operational, This has not happened yet. Bad weather conditions hampered progress in bringing aid into Gaza from the pier, instead An Israeli attack on the city of Rafah in the south of the country This has made it difficult, if not impossible at times, to deliver aid to the region via land routes.
Aid groups had mixed reactions, welcoming any amount of aid to the starving Palestinians trapped by the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas for nearly eight months, and denouncing the pier as a distraction that eases pressure on Israel to open more border crossings, which are considered far away. Far from being a distraction. More productive.
It’s a “sideshow,” said Bob Kitchen, a senior official at the International Rescue Committee.
The Biden administration has said from the beginning that the dock was never meant to be a complete solution and that any amount of assistance helps.
“Nobody initially said this was going to be a silver bullet for all the humanitarian assistance problems that still exist in Gaza,” National Security spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. “I think sometimes there’s an expectation from the US military — because they’re so good — that everything they touch will turn to gold in an instant.
“We knew going there was going to be difficult,” he added. “And it’s proven to be difficult stuff.”
Before the war, Gaza received about 500 truckloads of aid daily on average. USAID says it needs a steady flow of 600 trucks a day to ease the struggle for food and bring people back from Syria. The brink of starvation.
The aid brought in through the dock was enough to feed thousands for a month, but UN data shows it barely made a dent in the overall needs of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
Here’s a look at the dock’s timeline, the problems it’s faced, and what might come next:
March: Announcement and preparation
March 7: President Joe Biden announced His plan for the US Army to build a pier during the State of the Union address.
“Tonight, I instructed the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean Sea on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters,” he said.
But even in those first few moments, he noted that the dock would increase the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, but Israel must “do its part” and allow more aid in.
March 8: Maj. Gen. Pat Rader, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters that it would take “up to 60 days” to deploy forces and build the project.
March 12: Four U.S. Army boats loaded with tons of equipment and parts of steel piers will depart Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia and head out into the Atlantic Ocean on an expected month-long voyage to Gaza.
The brigade commander, Army Colonel Sam Miller, warns that the transportation and construction process will depend heavily on the weather and any high waves encountered.
Late March: US Army ships were exposed to high seas and harsh weather as they crossed the Atlantic, slowing their pace.
April: Building and hope
April 1: Seven Help workers in the global central kitchen They were killed in an Israeli airstrike while traveling in clearly marked vehicles on an Israeli-sanctioned delivery mission.
The strike fuels ongoing concerns about the security of aid workers and prompts relief agencies to halt the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
April 19: American officials confirm that the United Nations World Food Program has agreed to help deliver aid to Gaza via the sea route once construction is completed.
April 25: Commencement of major construction work for the port facility on the beach near Gaza City. The land site is where aid will be delivered from the bridge and provided to relief agencies.
April 30: Satellite images show the US Navy ship USNS Roy P. Benavidez and Army ships working to assemble the pier and bridge about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from the port on shore.
May: Pier opens. . . Then it closes
May 9: The US ship Sagamore is the first ship carrying aid to leave Cyprus and head towards Gaza and eventually to the dock. An advanced security and inspection station has been built in Cyprus to examine aid coming from a number of countries.
May 16: After the target time of 60 days, it was done Construction and assembly Works on the pier off the coast of Gaza and the bridge connecting to the beach have been completed after more than a week of weather conditions and other delays.
May 17: the The first trucks carrying aid For the Gaza Strip, it is transported via the newly built pier to the secure area on the beach, where it will be unloaded and the shipment distributed to relief agencies for delivery by truck to Gaza.
May 18: Crowds of desperate Palestinians stormed a convoy of aid trucks arriving from the pier, stripping the shipment of 11 of the 16 vehicles before it reached the UN warehouse for distribution.
May 19-20: the First curbside foodA limited number of highly nutritious biscuits reach those in need in central Gaza, according to the World Food Programme.
Aid organizations are suspending curbside deliveries for two days while the United States works with Israel to open alternative land routes from the dock and improve security.
May 24: So far, just over 1,000 metric tons of aid has been delivered to Gaza via the US-built dock, and USAID later says all of that aid has been distributed inside Gaza.
May 25: High winds and huge waves damaged the pier and caused four U.S. Army ships operating there to wash ashore, injuring three service members, one of whom was in critical condition.
Two ships ran aground in Gaza near the base of the pier and two ships ran aground near Ashkelon in Israel.
May 28: Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said that large parts of the bridge were pulled from the beach and transported to an Israeli port for repair. The base of the bridge remains at the Gaza shore.
It also says that aid is being loaded in Cyprus onto ships and will be ready to be unloaded at the dock once it is back in place.
May 29: Two army ships that ran aground due to bad weather have now returned to sea, and the other two ships are being freed near the pier with the help of the Israeli Navy.
What then?
In the coming days, the bridge parts will be put back together, and by the middle of next week it will be transported back to Gaza Beach, where the bridge will once again be connected to the beach, the Pentagon says.
“When we are able to reinstall the pier again, you will be able to see aid flowing more or less continuously,” Singh said on Tuesday. “We will continue to operate this temporary dock for as long as possible.”
— Lolita C. Baldur, The Associated Press
ellen nickmeyer, AP writer, She contributed to this report.
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