WASHINGTON (AP) — The pier built by the U.S. military to bring aid to Gaza is being removed due to weather to protect it, and the U.S. is considering not re-installing it unless aid begins flowing out into the population again, several U.S. officials said Friday.

While the military has helped deliver desperately needed food through the pier, the vast majority of it is still sitting in the adjacent storage yard because of the difficulty that agencies have had moving it to areas in Gaza where it is most needed, and that storage area is almost full.

  • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    They have plenty of aid on land. The obstacle is land delivery to Gaza due to Israeli attacks, not weather damage to the pier.

    The pier has been used to get more than 19.4 million pounds, or 8.6 million kilograms, of food into Gaza but has faced multiple setbacks.

    She noted that the secure area onshore is “pretty close to full,” but that the intention is still to get aid into Gaza by all means necessary. She said the U.S. is having discussions with the aid agencies about the distribution of the food.

    The big challenge has been that humanitarian convoys have stopped carrying the aid from the pier’s storage area further into Gaza, to get it into civilian hands, because they have come under attack.

    • Wrench@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      This is the key problem that seems to be getting buried everywhere

      The big challenge has been that humanitarian convoys have stopped carrying the aid from the pier’s storage area further into Gaza, to get it into civilian hands, because they have come under attack.

      If we’re not worrying about the cost of the pier, which I don’t think the Left is at all, then it’s really not about the storms and the maintenance that’s needed to keep it operational.

      The problem is Isreal is still functionally blocking the aid from reaching the people.

      So why spend so many resources on this pier and put your people at risk, when distribution of the delivered aid is blockaded the same as the land aid.

  • Dem Bosain@midwest.social
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    5 months ago

    We (well, not me, but someone) airlifted food into Berlin for almost a year. The pier is theater, meant to look like they’re doing something. If they really wanted to help, they would make sure the supplies actually got to the people that need it, and not leave it on the beach waiting for more fish to evolve legs.

  • tal
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    5 months ago

    and the U.S. is considering not re-installing it unless aid begins flowing out into the population again, several U.S. officials said Friday.

    Honestly, this was a ludicrously cost-ineffective way to transport aid. We built the thing remotely, floated it in, and it was only there for a few weeks before a storm caused damage and grounded multiple ships. We repair it. Then the UN decided that they weren’t going to use it for delivery because one of their warehouses had been hit (just dump it on the beach at Rafah, guys, if you don’t want to use the warehouses, has to be better than not bringing it in).

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      5 months ago

      In retrospect it was never about delivering aid, it was a piece of infrastructure they could use to ‘rescue’ those 4 hostages.

  • NoLifeGaming@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    A reminder this pier basically did nothing more than generate a headline and political posture so it looks like biden did something for Palestinians. Also a reminder that an attack was launched from their pier where many Palestinians were killed by the israelis.

  • jet@hackertalks.com
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    5 months ago

    You see the boat in the photos? You see how it’s got a flat bottom, and a ramp that can be lowered? It is literally designed to land on beaches and offload cargo. No Pier needed

  • spyd3r@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    Hundreds of millions of tax dollars spent giving aid and comfort to our enemies, someone should be going to prison for this.

    • Land_Strider@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on creating enemies seeking justice against the U.S.

      A lot of your past and present politicians should have been sent to prison for this.