The $320 million U.S.-built pier that was supposed to help alleviate the supply situation in Gaza is turning out to be a catastrophic failure.
Only a tiny trickle of aid has been delivered to UN warehouses in Gaza. The UN reports that only 10 truckloads of aid arrived on Friday at a World Food Program warehouse in Deir El Balah in Gaza.
On Saturday, only five truckloads of aid arrived at the warehouse. Reuters reports that Palestinians "cleaned out" 11 other truckloads on the way from the pier to the warehouse. There were no deliveries at all on Sunday and Monday.
Reuters is reporting that most of the aid coming into Gaza from the U.S. military's pier since Saturday was stolen by Palestinians as it made its journey to the UN's warehouse in nearby Deir El Balah.
— Phil Stewart (@phildstewart) May 20, 2024
* 11 trucks out of 16 trucks were cleaned out on Saturday
* No deliveries on…
“They’ve not seen trucks for a while,” a UN official told Reuters. “They just basically mounted on the trucks and helped themselves to some of the food parcels.”
How did this happen? Incredibly, the UN didn't think about securing the aid trucks until after the aid had been stolen.
“We need to make sure that the necessary security and logistical arrangements are in place before we proceed,” said the UN official.
According to Israeli estimates, Hamas has been stealing up to 60% of the aid entering the Gaza Strip, and a Channel 12 report last week revealed that the terrorist organization has made at least $500 million in profit off humanitarian aid since the start of the war on Oct. 7.
The pier was pre-assembled at the Israeli port of Ashdod before being anchored to a beach in the coastal enclave on Thursday. No American troops went ashore during the installation of the pier, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). Some 1,000 U.S. soldiers and sailors helped build the floating pier.
Only the UN could be so stupid.
It's not a question of aid not arriving at the pier. CENTCOM reports that hundreds of metric tons of aid have been delivered to the pier.
To date, over 569 metric tons of humanitarian assistance has been delivered across the temporary pier to Gaza for further distribution by humanitarian partners. The United States, United Kingdom, UAE, European Union, and many other partners have donated this humanitarian… pic.twitter.com/KbgXwFbfzD
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 21, 2024
The problem is in getting the aid to the warehouse where it will then be distributed.
Israel is also helping to facilitate the entry of aid via the pier.
Reuters also reported that “food and medicine for Palestinians in Gaza are piling up in Egypt because the Rafah crossing remains closed.”
Israel took operational control of the crossing weeks ago, but Cairo so far has refused to cooperate with Israeli authorities to facilitate the entry of aid through Rafah. The Israeli government wants to allow aid into Gaza through the crossing but is unable to do so without Egyptian cooperation.
Egypt doesn't want to abide by Israel's inspection policies that are designed to keep Hamas from getting their hands on weapons and explosives. So there's a stalemate with tens of thousands of tons of aid being held up because Egypt is chafing at the restrictions.
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