The artificial port was supposed to deliver vital humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave by sea. But it has been plagued by problems since it was put into service in mid-May.
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The project raised many doubts; it ultimately lasted barely two months. The floating port built by the United States off the coast of the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid could not be reinstalled after repairs, and will be abandoned, Washington announced on Thursday, July 11. “In the relatively short term, we will cease operations related to this jetty”said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. She said “always been considered a temporary solution”the Pentagon recalled.
President Joe Biden, who had wanted to install this pontoon to ““massively increase the volume of humanitarian aid” transported to Gaza, ravaged by nine months of war, said “disappointed”. At a press conference on Thursday evening, he confided that he would have liked to see this floating infrastructure succeed in its mission. But since its installation by the American army, the prefabricated port platform has mainly made headlines for its accumulation of failures, even being described as “humanitarian fiasco” by Doctors of the World. Franceinfo takes stock of this project.
The bill is high for short use
The construction of this ephemeral infrastructure cost the United States 230 million dollars, or more than 210 million euros, according to the American Ministry of Defense. “The Gaza jetty, unfortunately, represents nothing more than an extremely expensive diversion from what is truly necessary, but also legally required.”Michelle Strucke, director of humanitarian affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank, commented to AFP in June.
According to her, by focusing on this pier and on the airdrops, the United States “wasted time and energy of decision-makers, and more than $200 million of American taxpayer dollars”. Furthermore, construction took a particularly long time given the humanitarian emergency. More than two months passed between the announcement of the project on March 8 and the first unloading on May 17.
The aid provided is low compared to the needs
The American president had announced in March the sending “large shipments of food, water, medicines and temporary shelter”. According to the US Department of Defense, the pier has allowed the delivery of more than 8,100 tons of humanitarian aid to the coast. An anonymous Reuters source in Cyprus, where the cargo unloaded at the pier was leaving from, rather puts the figure at 8,500 tons. “the equivalent of 425 trucks of aid”. And this while the UN estimated in April that a minimum of 500 trucks per day were needed to meet the basic needs of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. In two months, the pier has therefore transported the equivalent of a small day’s needs – far from “the massive increase” deliveries initially promised by Joe Biden.
Washington should “Be careful not to support measures that look good on paper”but who ultimately “do not result in large-scale aid reaching the Palestinians”argues Michelle Strucke of CSIS.
The Israeli army was suspected of using it for an operation
Doubts have also been expressed about the safety of activities related to the pier. On June 10, the UN announced that the World Food Programme (WFP), which is responsible for delivering aid arriving in the Gaza Strip via the temporary American pier, had suspended its operations there. A temporary decision, “until an assessment of security conditions is conducted to ensure the safety of our personnel and partners”justified Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary General.
Asked about the reasons for the interruption, he mentioned the Israeli operation on June 8 to free four hostages in Nusseirat, which according to the Hamas Health Ministry left 274 dead and 698 wounded. An operation during which Israeli troops reportedly “used (…) a humanitarian aid truck” to infiltrate, the Palestinian Red Crescent had accused. This was denied by the Israeli army.
“We saw what happened in Gaza this weekend, we saw some media reports and we took note of the public statement by the US Centcom command that the pier was not used in the operation of the Israeli forces related to the hostages.”had then justified Stephane Dujarric. “I think it is normal that after such an operation which has caused so many victims, our humanitarian colleagues take a break to examine the situation.“ WFP operations have finally resumed June 28, NBC reports.
The pier proved vulnerable to weather conditions
Just a week after its initial installation in mid-May, waves caused four American vessels participating in the operation to undock. Three days later, the pier was damaged by severe weather and had to be transported to the Israeli port of Ashdod for repairs. Returned to service on June 7, it was transported back to Ashdod on June 14 due to swells, before being reattached on June 19. In its first month of use, the floating pier “will therefore only have been active for around ten days”then deplored Jean-Pierre Filiu, professor of Middle Eastern history at Sciences Po Paris, in The world.
On June 28, the pier was removed for the third time due to swell and taken to Israel for repairs. An attempt to re-anchor it off Gaza on Wednesday ended in failure. “due technical and weather related issues”a U.S. Defense Department spokesman reported Thursday. The pontoon returned to the port of Ashdod, where it will remain “until further notice”.