US-Led Gaza Pier Project Comes Under Mortar Fire As UN Officials Tour Site
The US military's ambitious project to erect a large pier off Gaza's coast (all within a war zone) to allow maritime shipments of humanitarian aid to Palestinians is off to a rocky start, after new reports that the construction site has come under fire.
UN officials were reportedly present at the location on Thursday when it came under attack by unknown gunmen, forcing the visiting delegation to take cover. Hamas has previously warned that it plans to resist any foreign military entity on Gaza's territory, which would include the US forces constructing the pier. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement blaming Palestinian terrorists for the attack (either Hamas or PIJ/Islamic Jihad), which included the launching of mortars.
"Members of a terror group in the Gaza Strip launched mortars at an under-construction pier for a US-led project to bring aid into the Palestinian enclave yesterday, the military says," as cited in Times of Israel. "The mortar attack occurred as United Nations officials were touring the site with Israeli troops on the coast of central Gaza, the IDF says in response to a query on the incident."
Officials said there were no casualties, but the IDF rushed the visiting UN officials to shelter. The UN subsequently also acknowledged the unprecedented attack on the site.
"The terrorist organizations continue to systematically harm humanitarian efforts while risking the lives of UN workers, while Israel allows the supply of aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip," the IDF added in its statement.
During his March State of the Union address, President Biden formally ordered the Pentagon to conduct an "emergency mission" to expand US humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip using a maritime route. He described that a port will be built by the US military, and will utilize a temporary pier to get supplies from ships to the people of Gaza.
"A temporary pier will enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day," President Biden said at the time, calling on Israel to "do its part" be letting more aid into the besieged territory while ensuring that "humanitarian workers aren't caught in the crossfire." That was two months ago.
However, it's looking like the US Army and naval engineers involved in the construction themselves could actually be the ones coming under fire.
Commenting on the latest progress and timeline of the Pentagon project, The Wall Street Journal wrote Thursday:
U.S. troops plan to start assembling a floating pier off the coast of northern Gaza as early as this weekend, American defense officials said, part of a Biden administration effort to open new paths for humanitarian aid ahead of a planned Israeli offensive in the city of Rafah.
Egyptian officials briefed on Israel’s plans for Rafah said Thursday that on-the-ground preparations for a military invasion of the city, where about 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter, could start in the coming days. The heads of the Israeli military and internal security service met with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Wednesday to coordinate efforts, including the evacuation of civilians from Rafah to so-called humanitarian zones in other parts of Gaza.
Earlier this month, USAID director Samantha Power said that famine already exists in some parts of the Gaza Strip. WSJ underscored this as well in its fresh reporting: "Some U.S. officials have said the pier, which will float several miles off Gaza’s shore, will help get more aid into northern Gaza, where some residents are already living in famine-like conditions, according to estimates released last month by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, an international initiative tasked with assessing the risk of famine around the world."
Critics of Biden's pier plan say it's already too-little-too-late and that the inspection process will still hold up maritime shipments regardless...
Biden's two-month project to build a pier for Gaza – while the population starves – is likely to make aid delivery worse, it is now revealed.
— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) April 24, 2024
Not only is Israel insisting that it inspect (meaning delay) aid before it can be loaded on to ships in Cyprus. It's also now insisting… pic.twitter.com/8fUv27kh0d
US soldiers are expected to construct the pier and launch it from aboard US Navy vessels offshore. Vice Adm Kevin Donegan, the most senior US Navy commander in the Middle East has said the plan is "absolutely executable." The Pentagon has previously sought to emphasize that "The current plan doesn't include any US boots on the ground in Gaza." But Hamas is likely to disagree, and could mount continued attacks while Pentagon forces work to complete the major project.