why the American floating pier, out of service, is called a “humanitarian fiasco”

Aid delivery to the Palestinian territory via this US-built pontoon bridge has been temporarily suspended due to weather conditions.

Less than two weeks after it was put into operation, the American floating jetty to transport humanitarian aid from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip is out of service. It was damaged due to weather conditions, the American Department of Defense announced Tuesday, May 28. Since its installation, this artificial bridge, which aims to circumvent the severe restrictions imposed by Israel on the land delivery of aid to the Palestinian territory, has been the subject of numerous criticisms.

In a joint statement published Tuesday, around twenty NGOs denounce “cosmetic changes” about this pier and the various crossing points supposed to allow the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Jean-François Corty, vice-president of Médecins du monde (MDM), even describes this floating bridge as “humanitarian fiasco” near Release. Franceinfo explains why.

Because this floating infrastructure did not withstand the weather conditions

It therefore did not resist the vagaries of the weather. Four American army boats ran aground on Saturday May 25 due to a “turbulent sea”, according to the US Middle East Military Command (Centcom). Marine weather also caused a section of the pier to break on Tuesday. It must be removed and sent to the Israeli city of Ashdod for repairs, explained during a press briefing Sabrina Singh, deputy spokesperson for the Pentagon. “The reconstruction and repair of the pier will take at least more than a week. “Once completed, the aim is to re-anchor the temporary pier on the coast of Gaza and resume the delivery of humanitarian aid“she clarified.

This pier project was initially announced in March by Joe Biden, during his State of the Union speech. Stating that the war launched by Israel after the Hamas attack on October 7 had “caused more casualties among innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined”the American president had “ordered the US military to carry out an emergency mission to build a temporary pier in the Mediterranean”. Objective : “Receive large shipments of food, water, medicine and temporary shelter”while the two main land crossing points for humanitarian aid into Gaza – Kerem Shalom from Israel and Rafah from Egypt – were already largely obstructed by the Jewish state.

This floating bridge cost at least $320 million (296 million euros), according to American authorities. THE New York Times also reports that this announcement by Joe Biden surprised the Pentagon, whose officials immediately predicted logistical and security problems. As the American daily reminds us, the United States has already used this type of installation, called “JLOTS” (Joint Logistics Over the Shore), for humanitarian aid in Somalia, Kuwait and Haiti. But in the case of Gaza, the pier was built in haste, in barely two months, on the Palestinian coast, the newspaper specifies.

Because the delivery of aid is not secure on the rest of the route

The complexity of this humanitarian aid infrastructure, unlike previous American floating devices, is also due to the fact that American troops, whose presence on the ground in Gaza is prohibited by the White House, cannot ensure the security of the trucks once these landed on dry land. In the days following the pier’s commissioning on May 17, vehicles were looted as they headed to a warehouse.

In these areas where “there was no help” and where famine threatens, the population has “took what she could”for fear of not seeing the precious goods again, explained Friday May 24 Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN General Secretariat. So much so that the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) had to suspend its activities for two days.

As reported by New York TimesNGOs and the United Nations have also blamed criminal groups who seized the supplies and sold them at exorbitant prices. “Setting up a dock and getting supplies to the dock and to shore is one thing. Setting up the logistics to get aid to the places that need it most is another matter entirely, and it’s This is where the lack of planning and coordination comes into play.”argued to the American daily Rabih Torbay, president of the humanitarian organization Project Hope.

From now on, “the operation is stabilized, the WFP has found various routes to reach its warehouse in Deir al-Balah”however, assured Stéphane Dujarric, before the bridge was decommissioned.

Because the humanitarian aid provided is insufficient

Humanitarian organizations had warned from the start of the American initiative that this alternative could not replace an influx of aid by land. The UN announced on Friday May 24 that the installation had enabled the disembarkation of 97 trucks in one week. Centcom specified for its part that more than 1,000 tonnes of aid had been landed, including more than 900 transported to the United Nations warehouse.

Ultimately, Washington hopes for the arrival of the equivalent of “150 trucks per day”. But even this objective would fall far short of the needs of a population ravaged by war. The UN had estimated at 500 trucks per day the number of deliveries needed to help almost all of the 2.4 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, displaced by the fighting and bombings. However, between May 7 and 23, “only 906 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza through all operational entry points”precise the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha).

In mid-May, Farhan Haq, another spokesperson for the UN General Secretariat, stressed that humanitarian aid “cannot and should not rely on a floating jetty, far from where the need is most acute.” Especially since a serious shortage of fuel complicates the situation. Let help come “by sea or by road, without fuel, it will not reach the people who need it”added Farhan Haq.