Biden announces US will build pier on Gaza shore for large-scale aid delivery
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Gaza aid pier mission involving US troops is off to a chaotic start
An effort involving the U.S. military to surge much-needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is off to a chaotic start, with aid trucks being overrun and at least one person feared dead over the weekend, prompting a pause in aid distribution.
U.S. soldiers and sailors built a floating pier off Gaza and stabbed it into a Gaza beach on Friday with the help of Israeli forces.
The plan, announced by President Biden in his State of the Union address and using a capability known as Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, has been touted as another way to get food to Gazans caught between the Israeli military and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
It involves no U.S. troops on the ground in Gaza, as the U.S. military’s efforts have involved building the massive floating platform and pier that was installed last week.
But aid trucks stopped trundling off the military’s floating pier on Saturday, and only resumed moving out into Gaza on Tuesday, according to Pentagon officials. The U.N. said it was not aware of any deliveries on Tuesday, however.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday that the issues have arisen once the aid was loaded onto nongovernmental organization trucks, departed the marshaling area and headed toward distribution warehouses in Gaza.
Over the weekend, some of those trucks were overtaken by Palestinians, according to U.N. officials.
Only five of the 16 aid trucks that left the secured area on Saturday arrived at the intended warehouse with their cargo intact, U.N. World Food Program spokesperson Steve Taravella told The Associated Press. He said the other 11 trucks were waylaid by what became a crowd of people and arrived without their cargo.
Authorities have offered few firm details of what transpired Saturday. Hamas has said the group will resist any foreign presence associated with the project, but it remains unclear whether the group was involved in the weekend’s aid disruption.
However, Associated Press video shows Israeli armored vehicles on a beach road, then aid trucks moving down the road.
Civilians watching from the roadside gradually start to clamber on top of the aid trucks, throwing aid down to people below. Numbers of people then appear to overrun the aid trucks and their goods.
At one point, members of the crowd are shown carting a motionless man with a chest wound through the crowd. A local morgue later confirmed to the AP the man had been killed by a rifle shot. At another point, shots crackled, and some of the people in the crowd are shown apparently ducking behind aid boxes for cover.
Gaza aid pier mission involving US troops is off to a chaotic start
A U.S.-involved effort to deliver aid to Gaza has begun tumultuously, with aid trucks overrun and at least one person feared dead over the weekend.
www.navytimes.com
Another great plan and execution by the Biden administration. 
A section of the $320 million floating pier built and erected off Gaza's coast has broken off and floated onto an Israeli beach. The Saturday mishap is the latest setback for the US humanitarian aid project, after three US troops were reported injured aboard the pier two days prior, including one critically.
The Times of Isreal's military correspondent Emanuel Fabian has reported that "An American vessel used to unload humanitarian aid from ships into the Gaza Strip via a floating pier disconnected from a small boat tugging it this morning due to stormy seas, leading it to get stuck on the coast of Ashdod, eyewitnesses say."
The recovery operation has not gone well either, as "Another ship was then sent to try and extract the stuck vessel, but also got beached," Fabian writes.
And yet a second US Army vessel also got stuck in shallow waters while trying to rescue the pier section. Overnight US ships had been moving two pieces of the floating pier to the Port of Ashdod in southern Israel when the now beached section detached and drifted away. American troops can be seen in footage standing helplessly on the beach.
An official US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement says the following:
This morning four U.S. Army vessels supporting the maritime humanitarian aid mission in Gaza were affected by heavy sea states. The vessels broke free from their moorings and two vessels are now anchored on the beach near the pier.
The third and fourth vessels are beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon. Efforts to recover the vessels are under way with assistance from the Israeli Navy.
I'm seeing reports that biden's 320 million dollar pier has broken apart and a large section has washed onto an Israeli beach. Yet another joe biden L by the sound of things.
You think they'll ever make a Biden movie in the same vein they made two Bush movies and a one man show? He's way more of a doofus fvck up. Tons of material. I'm sure Oliver Stone is shopping scripts as we speak.
Obama was right. Never underestimate joes ability to fvck things up. The man really is one giant walking L.
The pier is kind of a shit show so far...
The UN World Food Program (WFP) has temporarily halted operations from a pier in central Gaza after two of the aid group's warehouses in the enclave were hit in recent fighting, the agency's director said.
Why it matters: WFP is a key partner to the U.S. in distributing humanitarian aid that comes into Gaza through the temporary pier assembled by the U.S. military.
What they're saying: "I'm concerned about the safety of our people after the incidents yesterday," Cindy McCain, WFP executive director, told CBS on Sunday.
The latest: "Temporarily pausing operations at floating dock for a UN security assessment to ensure staff & partners' safety," WFP in the Middle East and North Africa wrote Monday on X.
UN program pauses food distribution from Gaza pier, citing safety concerns
The UN World Food Program (WFP) has temporarily halted operations from a pier in central Gaza after two of the aid group's warehouses in the enclave were hit in recent fighting, the agency's director said.
Why it matters: WFP is a key partner to the U.S. in distributing humanitarian aid that comes into Gaza through the temporary pier assembled by the U.S. military.
What they're saying: "I'm concerned about the safety of our people after the incidents yesterday," Cindy McCain, WFP executive director, told CBS on Sunday.
- "Two of our warehouses, the warehouse complex were rocketed yesterday," she said. "We've stepped back just for the moment [...] to make sure that we're on safe terms and on safe ground before we restart."
- "But the rest of the country is operational," she added. "We're doing everything we can in the north and the south."
- The Israel Defense Forces said it's looking into the incident.
The latest: "Temporarily pausing operations at floating dock for a UN security assessment to ensure staff & partners' safety," WFP in the Middle East and North Africa wrote Monday on X.
US officials say Gaza aid pier may be dismantled soon, after little success – report
New York Times reports said structure could be taken down in early July, weeks earlier than planned and after only 10 days of actual operation, due to unexpected weather conditions
By TOI STAFF19 June 2024
The aid pier built on the Gaza coast by the United States for some $200 million may be dismantled earlier than planned, according to a Tuesday media report, having so far completed a total of 10 days of actual operations.
The New York Times reported that US officials had told aid organizations in Gaza that the structure could be taken apart early in July, having done little to alleviate goods shortages in the Strip amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The pier has been mostly inoperative since it was inaugurated in mid-May, due to weather damage, stormy seas and security concerns.
The US military was preparing to temporarily remove the humanitarian aid pier last week because of anticipated sea conditions, having just resumed bringing supplies into the enclave after suspending delivery the previous weekend.
“Today, due to expected high seas, the temporary pier will be removed from its anchored position in Gaza and towed back to Ashdod, Israel,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a social media post on Friday.
...
UN officials have recently said they were reassessing the use of the pier, claiming that Israel Defense Forces activity nearby had jeopardized the perceived neutrality of the aid route. The concerns stemmed in part from false social media reports that Israel used the floating pier in a hostage rescue mission, though the Pentagon dismissed the claims out of hand.
Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said that there were Israeli helicopter operations “near” the pier, but confirmed that neither the structure nor any US military personnel were involved in the raid.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters after the operation that rescuers had opted against returning the way they came, across a land border, as they were rushing out a mortally wounded commando. Instead, they sped toward the beach and the site of the US aid hub on Gaza’s coast, he said, where an Israeli helicopter touched down and helped whisk away the hostages and the commando.
Still, the UN World Food Program, which works with the US to transfer aid from the pier to warehouses and local aid teams for distribution within Gaza, suspended cooperation as it conducts a security review. Aid has been piling up on the beach since.
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