The Port of ASHDOD, Israel – U.S. military efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza have hit a snag, as heavy sea conditions wrecked a temporary pier built off the coast.
The U.S. Central Command recently built the structure to help facilitate aid delivery to civilians caught in the crossfire. Heavy seas and a North African weather system, however, caused significant damage, washing sections of the pier along the Gaza coastline and the southern Israeli city of Ashdod.
Sal Mercogliano of Campbell University explained, "What you had happen off the coast of Gaza was an increase in sea swell and winds. And the US JLOTS, Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore operation, is really tailored to a specific sea state. And basically less than ten knots of wind or three feet of sea. When you get over that, it really taxes the system."
The temporary pier was intended to bring the equivalent of 150 truckloads of aid to Gaza each day, but so far fewer than 40 have made it to the beach. Some loads that did make it were reportedly taken by looters before reaching those who needed it most.
Military engineers didn't have the resources to pull the beached pieces of the dock back to sea after they grounded themselves here off the coast of Ashdod, and so instead they are taking the modular units apart and putting them on flatbed trucks in order to take them back to where the dock is being repaired here at the port of Ashdod.
The U.S. military's involvement has also raised concerns about the safety of Israeli troops, who are required to help build, maintain, and secure the pier from the land side inside Gaza. Some experts argue this diverts them from the primary mission of eliminating Hamas terrorists and may prolong the conflict.
"The Department of Defense and the administration in Washington has put a kind of a catch on this that they can't put boots on the ground, and that really precludes them from doing that operation. So they're forced to have to use the pier option here because if you run watercraft ashore, you're literally putting boots on the ground in that case. So you're limiting the options here," Mercogliano said.
Despite setbacks, the U.S. says it remains committed to finding alternative routes and methods to deliver aid to the people of Gaza.
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said, "So we're going to continue to operate this temporary pier for as long as we can. In terms of other routes or ways for the aid to get in, what you're asking is, because of this delay, like, how will other aid get in? And I think, you know, I sort of spoke to this, but that's what USAID is trying to figure out other ways for the aid that's already on Cyprus if it's land routes or other ways for it to get in. We're working through that."
New reports show that so far, the temporary pier operation has cost American taxpayers nearly $1.5 billion, making the cost per meal delivered to date more than $1,600 each. And with the pier in pieces, it looks like the cost will only go up from there.
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