[News] No aid unloaded at US pier has reached Gaza

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 No aid unloaded at US pier has reached Gaza: Pentagon

The hold-up comes despite the fact that Washington’s ‘humanitarian’ pier
has been in operation for a week

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

MAY 22, 2024 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/no-aid-unloaded-at-us-pier-has-reached-gaza-pentagon
(Photo credit: US Army/Reuters)

The Pentagon said
<https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/05/21/politics/us-gaza-pier-aid-not-delivered>
on 21 May that none of the humanitarian aid has been unloaded off of
Washington’s floating pier on the coast of Gaza, as the US says it is
working with the UN and Israel to identify safe routes into the besieged
enclave.

Pentagon spokesman, Major General Patrick Ryder, said on Tuesday that the
US, Israel, and the UN are working to determine “alternative routes” for
the delivery of over 500 tons of aid that has been transported to the Gaza
pier since last week.

The announcement comes after desperate Palestinians, stricken by famine as
a result of Israel’s war, tried intercepting a number of trucks carrying
aid from the pier over the weekend, according to Ryder.

“As of today, I do not believe so,” Ryder said
<https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/21/world/middleeast/gaza-aid-pier-food.html>
in response to a question on whether any aid has been delivered to starving
Gazans in the besieged strip.

“We do anticipate that assistance will be distributed in the coming days,
of course, conditions permitting,” he added.

“Fully appreciating the desperation,” Ryder said in reference to the
starving Palestinians who attempted to intercept aid trucks, “it is very
important that this aid get to the people who need it most, that’s going to
continue to be the focus … I understand, you know, the focus on why is this
not working, or why is that not working, but what we’re focused on is how
we can work to ensure that the Palestinian people get the aid.”

“We do anticipate that assistance will be distributed in the coming days,
of course, conditions permitting,” he went on to say.

An unnamed US official told CNN that “the Defense Department and UN are
still working to determine how much aid can be held at the [pier’s] staging
area inside Gaza at any given time.”

The failure of Washington’s Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) project
comes as aid is piling up
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/no-us-pier-aid-un-gaza-two-days-after-truck-incident-2024-05-20/>
on the border with Egypt, as the Rafah crossing
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/24920> remains shut by Israel due to its
ongoing operation in the southernmost city, which has severely hindered
efforts to deliver assistance to desperate Gazans.

All other crossings are controlled by Israel, and the small amounts of aid
entering the strip are severely below what is required.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) said in early May that northern Gaza is now
facing
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/4/israels-war-on-gaza-live-talks-in-egypt-set-to-steer-wars-direction>
“full-blown” famine.

The US army announced <https://thecradle.co/articles-id/24916> on 16 May
that it had completed the installation of the temporary pier on Gaza's
shore. Aid shipments began trickling
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/24941> onto the Gaza shore via the US
port the following day, on 17 May.

Israel has repeatedly targeted starving Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza
since the start of the war, including several incidents in late February
and early March, which saw Gazans lined up for flour
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/23804> getting gunned down by Israeli
forces.

Israeli forces have conducted at least eight airstrikes on aid workers and
facilities in Gaza since October despite direct communication with the
groups, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/24884> released on 14 May.

Seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/24197>) were killed in an Israeli strike
early last month.
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