THE US PRESIDENT pressed ahead with plans to build a pier in Gaza to deliver and distribute humanitarian assistance to the region despite a number of Government aid agency staffers voicing concerns over the plan.
A report by the inspetor of the US agency for humanitarian aid (USAid) has detailed that significant security and operational concerns were raised by staff over the plan by Joe Biden to build a pier to bring much needed aid to the people of Gaza.
The concerns included unease over the safety of people constructing project and later distributing aid in the area as well as worries that the USAid’s plan to instead force a humanitarian corridor through Egypt would be discarded.
Biden’s pier project ended due to adverse weather conditions which severely damaged the hastily built structure. Last month, the US announced that it would be winding down and ceasing the operation.
While the operation was still ongoing, staff in USAid and members of the joint-group of Army and Navy personnel carrying out deliveries reported “multiple instances of looting after aid was collected from the beach and transported into Gaza, attacks on [aid] warehouses, and drivers being detained or shot”.
The presence of the joint military grouping also heightened anxiety among the Palestinian community in Gaza, according to the report, over the presence of army personnel at, usually neutral, aid delivery points.
Today’s report highlighted that some of these same concerns were what led to the pier pausing its operations a number of times during the mission.
Over the 20 days of the operation, the report says, a total of 810,000 kilograms of aid was delivered through the pier to people in where there is a “high risk of famine”. This was enough to feed almost a quarter of Gaza’s population for a month.
However, the inspector says, “despite its role as the U.S. government lead for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, USAid had limited control over the decision to use [the US military], where it would be located, and who would provide security on the beach and during transportation of [US military]-delivered aid.”
The inspection therefore recommends that USAid should reconsider working with the military for future aid operations over lessons related to “deconfliction, stakeholder coordination, and contingency planning”.
It notes that the agency has already addressed the conflict management board on how it is prepared to address these issues.
The White House said today the pier was “part of a comprehensive response to dire conditions alongside air and land deliveries”.
A spokesperson said: “We are grateful to the heroic efforts of the men and women of the US military who built and maintained the pier.”
Asked last month if the US viewed the operation as a success, National Security Advisor to the White House Jake Sullivan said: “Look, I see any result that produces more food, more humanitarian goods getting to the people of Gaza as a success.
“It is additive. It is something additional that otherwise would not have gotten there when it got there. And that is a good thing.”
Contains reporting from © AFP 2024
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