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Stark lessons from the failure of the Gaza pier
The Department of Defense announced in July that it was permanently removing the temporary pier that it had constructed three months earlier to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. The pier was part of a modular structure that would also incorporate a floating platform to receive supplies transported by four Army logistics ships deployed from Cyprus.
President Biden had announced the plan in his State of the Union address, promising that “this temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza.”
The plan was for the pier to operate for three months, during which the administration estimated that the effort would result in enough aid to feed 1.5 million people. But the pier and its associated system functioned for only 20 days. The Pentagon had to interrupt operations three times before deciding to terminate the effort. The operation ultimately supported only 450,000 people and delivered 8,100 metric tons of aid.
The Defense Department claimed that, despite its premature termination of the effort, it had nevertheless made a major contribution toward feeding and otherwise aiding the Palestinians of Gaza. In fact, nearly three times as much aid — some 22,400 metric tons — had entered Gaza through the Erez and Kerem Shalom overland crossings during the same three-month period when the pier was operating.
According to Israeli sources, it was........
© The Hill
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