The U.S. military finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip on Thursday, with officials poised to begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war.
The final, overnight construction sets up a complicated delivery process more than two months after U.S. President Joe Biden ordered it to help Palestinians facing starvation as food and other supplies fail to make it in as Israel recently seized the key Rafah border crossing in its push on that southern city on the Egyptian border.
Fraught with logistical, weather and security challenges, the maritime route is designed to bolster the amount of aid getting into the Gaza Strip, but it is not considered a substitute for far cheaper land-based deliveries that aid agencies say are much more sustainable. The boatloads of aid will be deposited at a port facility built by the Israelis just southwest of Gaza City and then distributed by aid groups.
the aid trucks will be unloaded on the shore in an area secured by Israeli forces […] Israeli forces will be in charge of security on the shore
Right … those same Israeli forces that have refused to let aid trucks into Gaza, have refused to let aid trucks move through Gaza, who have let Israelis loot burn and destroy aid trucks, who have deliberately and repeatedly targeted aid trucks and aid workers, repeatedly killing them? Those Israeli forces? I’m sure this’ll be fine …
If this was a movie script it would be rejected for not making sense. But here we are in this clown-show reality.
The article states that the World Food Program will be delivering the aid. After seeing the tragic IDF attacks, as well as Hamas hoarding and selling food, shouldn’t the aid be delivered by military personnel?
You need military personnel from a country willing to do that. No one would trust Israel, Biden isn’t doing that in an election year. Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria don’t really care about Palestinians, or would make things worse with their presence. The US would block a UN presence more than likely. Europe is a bit preoccupied with Ukraine, and wouldn’t put troops into another war zone with limited up side.
According to the article, the US military is in charge of the boat routes and overseeing military checkpoints. I’m just suggesting they drive the truck.
Biden has been pushing for aid to get safely into Gaza. That’s why the US built the dock in the first place. Why would the US block UN assistance in delivering aid?
Because Israel doesn’t want the UN involved at all.
UN members are still providing humanitarian and defensive aid. The UK helped shoot down Iranian drones, and has been assisting in defending Israel from attacks in the Red Sea. They’ve provided Gaza with 150 tonnes of aid, including more than 13,000 blankets and 840 family-sized tents, entered Gaza on 13 March 2024.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-aid-en-route-to-temporary-pier-off-gaza
Individual nations are involved. The only presence the UN had was UNRWA and Netanyahu made sure they (mostly) disappeared … although currently an UNRWA health clinic is being shelled by the IDF. Source
I see your point, but it’s hard to tell if that’s the IDF targeting the UN or Gaza aid in general. They’ve been openly critical of both, but they’ve also attacked World Central Kitchen twice.
Pretty sure they don’t want to risk being dragged into yet another conflict in the Middle East. If someone got killed, hawkish republicans would demand an invasion and US troops
They’re already present as escorts through most of the route. I’m just suggesting they deliver the aid directly to discourage Israel and Hamas from targeting workers again. Both groups know better than to challenge the US military.
It wouldn’t be just delivering aid. Once the military is there it’s a military operation. Their goal can be protecting aid, but that also means they likely have to fire on hamas raids, or even the Israel army at some point and either case is bad for everyone.
In that case the best they could do is escort wherever legally possible to maintain it as delivery of aid while still offering protection. Do you have a source that explains the designation for military operation if the military delivers aid?
Do you have a source that explains the designation for military operation if the military delivers aid?
You won’t find any because no one wants to get near having their military force in Israel for any reason. It’s political suicide (not to mention the fact America’s armed forces are already short personnel).
Again, the US military is already facilitating the transport for the aid. It’s being delivered by a humanitarian organization, with the help of the US military.
Also, the US armed forces have not left Israel. They have maintained consistent presence since the early ‘90s. The only two active military installations in Israel are American bases.
I hope everyone understands that this entire project is a facade, designed to provide Biden and his administration with a hook on which they can hang claims of deniability without actually meaningfully hampering Israel’s genocide campaign.
That’s amazing now they can combine handing out the flour bags and delivering the tank shells to the Nazis shooting at the flour distribution cars.
Genocide has never been more efficient.
“You take some flour. We made a floating pier for you.”
“And you take 1 billion dollars in arms to kill those you starve to death.”
Don’t be surprised if the U.S. claims they were attacked by Hamas and the U.S. gets dragged into the war.
Has oil been found Rafah?
According to a 2019 UN report, there are over 3 billion barrels of oil estimated to be located beneath the occupied lands of Palestine, including off the coast. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has identified potential and existing oil and natural gas reserves in the West Bank and Gaza, including 1,525 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in the occupied Palestinian territories. However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says that the Palestinian territories do not produce oil.
Never gonna happen.
Not happening, the US genuinely wants nothing to do with Fighting Israel’s bullshit
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip on Thursday, with officials poised to begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war.
Pentagon officials said the fighting in Gaza wasn’t threatening the new shoreline aid distribution area, but they have made it clear that security conditions will be monitored closely and could prompt a shutdown of the maritime route, even just temporarily.
Because land crossings could bring in all the needed aid if Israeli officials allowed, the U.S.-built pier-and-sea route “is a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist,” said Scott Paul, an associate director of the Oxfam humanitarian organization.
Biden used his State of the Union address on March 7 to order the military to set up a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza, establishing a sea route to deliver food and other aid.
There, the pallets are transferred onto trucks, driven onto smaller Army boats and then shuttled several miles (kilometers) to the floating causeway, which has been anchored onto the beach by the Israeli military.
Sabrina Singh, Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters that the project will cost at least $320 million, including the transportation of the equipment and pier sections from the United States to the coast of Gaza, as well as the construction and aid delivery operations.
The original article contains 1,123 words, the summary contains 230 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
