Rumors suggest that the US military is losing the majority of the aid heading into Gaza via the new “floating dock.”
President Joe Biden revealed the pier’s completion in his State of the Union speech, and the Pentagon said that 569 metric tons of assistance had been delivered ashore to date.
The Pentagon is unable to determine how much, if any, of that help has really made it to the groups designated to distribute it since there have been allegations of Palestinians just stealing goods from delivery vehicles.
“No aid was transported to a U.N. warehouse from a U.S.-built dock for two days,” according to a Reuters story.
It also stated:
“United Nations contractors carried ten truckloads of food supply from the dock site to a World Food Program warehouse in Deir El Balah, Gaza, on Friday, according to the United Nations. However, only five truckloads arrived in the warehouse on Saturday after Palestinians cleared away 11 others as they traveled through a region that a U.N. official claimed has been difficult to access for humanitarian supplies.”
“The pier did not provide the United Nations with any relief funds.” The U.N. official declared, “We must ensure that the required security and logistical procedures are in place before we start.”
In response to questions on the situation at a press briefing on Tuesday, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon Press Secretary, stated that it would not be correct to state that no help had arrived at all, but he was unable to provide an explanation for how the United States would ensure that supplies from the pier would be deliverable.
“Is the assistance not situated in the onshore assembly areas?” Therefore, the United States military is transporting it to the causeway, he stated. After non-US contractors drive it over onto the coast and place it in an assembly location, the NGOs supporting this endeavor pick it up and take it for further distribution.
He couldn’t ascertain the actual acceptance rate by relief agencies of the estimated 569 metric tons of supplies that arrived at the pier.
