Off the coast of Gaza, trucks loaded with aid depart from an American military pier, only to remain uncollected

CNN
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After a series of unfortunate incidents, humanitarian aid trucks are now arriving at the US military pier off the coast of Gaza at a more steady pace.

But huge problems still loom.

The US military says it is now transporting about 800 pallets of humanitarian aid daily into Gaza via the temporary dock, or approximately 40 trucks. But currently, this aid is not helping to alleviate the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where more than two million people are facing a crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity, according to WHO estimates. New report.

American military officials said that more than 6,000 pallets loaded with aid delivered via the pier were stacked up waiting to be picked up on the beach, after the World Food Program suspended aid collection operations due to security concerns.

CNN was granted access to the pier on Tuesday for the first time since it was installed on the Gaza coast last month, where it saw trucks proceeding from a logistics ship, across the pier to the Gaza coast.

The pier consists of interlocking floating platforms made of hundreds of tons of steel that vibrate with each wave passing underneath. Towboats on both sides help keep the platform stable. An Israeli military contingent is responsible for ensuring the security of US military personnel and civilian truck drivers in the area, and the US C-RAM air defense system capable of intercepting mortar shells provides an additional layer of protection.

The visit also provided CNN with a rare opportunity to see up close the massive devastation caused by the nearly nine-month-long war on the Gaza coast, where most buildings were visible either flattened or severely damaged.

Beyond the bombed buildings, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is becoming increasingly desperate again, especially in northern Gaza, where Hunger is on the rise. Humanitarian aid operations in Gaza have been severely hampered by an increase in Israeli military operations over the past month, and humanitarian officials say chaos and looting are on the rise.

The Israeli Armed Forces say they were able to bring hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza recently, blaming humanitarian relief agencies’ lack of capacity to pick up and distribute aid. But aid organizations say their efforts are hampered by their lack of communication with the Israeli army, which puts them at risk of being caught in the crossfire.

US President Joe Biden announced plans to build the pier during his State of the Union address, pledging that it would “enable a massive increase” in humanitarian aid reaching Gaza.

But bad weather and rough waves hampered these efforts, damaging the pier and putting it out of action for weeks over the past month and a half.

The Pentagon said it is committed to keeping the pier operational, despite reports that it is considering shutting down the project altogether.

In response to criticism from humanitarian aid groups that the $230 million US effort would have been better spent pressuring Israel to deliver more aid to Gaza via land routes, Captain Joel Stewart, the senior Navy officer involved in the operation, told CNN that the pier was closed. . The goal was always to be a “quick response” and not a “long-term solution.”

“The sea is a tough job, lady. It’s unpredictable. Every wave is different from the last, so dealing with that is a challenge, but we have adapted to that and I think we are in a better position now than we were at the beginning,” he said.