U.S. Army soldiers stand next to trucks arriving with a load of humanitarian aid at the U.S.-built floating dock Trident before it reaches the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, June 25, 2024.
Leo Correa/AP
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Leo Correa/AP
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden ordered the construction of a temporary dock to send humanitarian aid to Gaza earlier this year even as some staff at the US Agency for International Development expressed concern that the effort would be difficult to pull off and undermine efforts to persuade Israel. to open “more efficient” land crossings to get food into the region, according to a USAID inspector general report published Tuesday.
Biden announced plans to use the temporary docks in his State of the Union address in March to speed up the delivery of aid to the Palestinian territories besieged by the war between Israel and Hamas.
But the $230 million military-run project known as the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore system, or JLOTS, will only be operational for about 20 days. Aid groups pulled out of the project in July, ending a mission marred by repeated weather and security problems that limited the amount of food and other emergency supplies to starving Palestinians.
“Many times USAID staff have expressed concern that the focus on using JLOTS will reduce the Agency’s advocacy for open land crossings, which are seen as a more efficient and proven way to deliver aid to Gaza,” according to the inspector general’s report. “However, when the President issued the directive, the Agency’s focus was on using JLOTS effectively.”
When Biden announced his plan for the floating docks, the United Nations reported that nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people were struggling to find food and more than half a million were starving.
The Biden administration set a goal of US sea routes and ports providing food to feed 1.5 million Gazans for 90 days. It collapsed, bringing enough to feed about 450,000 people for a month before it died.
High waves and bad weather repeatedly damaged the pier, and the UN World Food Program ended cooperation with the project after Israeli rescue operations used the nearby area to evacuate the hostages, raising concerns that the workers would appear neutral and independent in the area. . conflict.
US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said on Tuesday that the project was “having a real impact” on getting food to hungry Palestinian civilians despite the obstacles.
“The bottom line is that because of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the United States is not interfering with our efforts to get more aid, and the docks play an important role at a critical time in achieving that goal,” he said. Savett said in a statement.
The watchdog report also stated that the United States failed to honor the commitment it had made with the World Food Program so that the UN agency agreed to participate in the distribution of supplies from the port to the hands of the Palestinians.
The US agreed to the conditions set by the WFP, including that the pier would be placed in northern Gaza, where the need for aid is greatest, and that UN member states would provide security for the pier. The move is intended to preserve WFP’s neutrality among the warring parties in Gaza, the watchdog’s report said.
Instead, the Pentagon placed a dock in central Gaza. WFP staff told USAID supervisors that the understanding of the US military chose the location because it allowed better security for the docks and the military itself.
The Israeli military eventually provided security after the US military was unable to find a neutral country willing to do the job, the watchdog report said.
U.S. officials say USAID staff are concerned about projects that reduce aid efforts generally starting early in the process. USAID responded by adding enough staff to the agency to deal with the ports and land routes simultaneously, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
