By Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican lawmaker who heads the House Armed Services Committee has formally written to the Biden administration demanding the closure of the relief pier off the coast of Gaza. He calls the operation ineffective, risky and a waste of money.
The offshore floating pier, announced by Biden in March in response to the threat of famine in the Gaza Strip, was built by the US military off the coast of the enclave as a way to bring in food and other relief supplies.
The US military has been given permission to operate it until the end of July, but a US Agency for International Development official said this week that the government could seek to extend it for at least another month.
“I urge the Administration to immediately halt this botched operation before further catastrophes occur and consider alternative means of delivering humanitarian assistance on land and in the air,” House Speaker Mike Rogers wrote Armed Services Committee, in a letter seen by Reuters.
The letter, sent to White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was not previously reported.
Rogers has long opposed the pier and has called for its dismantling in the past, but he had not previously expressed that position in a formal written letter to the government.
His Armed Services Committee is the Pentagon’s top oversight body in the House of Representatives, and formal requests from the chairman traditionally require a response from Pentagon officials.
Aid first arrived on May 17 through the US-built pier in Gaza, where almost all of the 2.3 million residents have been displaced by Israel’s campaign against the militant group Hamas.
But rough seas damaged the pier, requiring repairs, and bad weather limited the number of days it was operational. Most of the supplies that have reached the coast have yet to be distributed by UN aid agencies, which say their activities have been limited by insecurity.
“As of June 19, JLOTS had only been operational for 10 days and had transported only 3,415 tons to the beach in Gaza,” Rogers wrote, using the U.S. military’s acronym for the pier system known as Joint Logistics Over the Shore.
According to US military data, 8,332 pallets had been delivered through the pier on Tuesday. But about 84% of them are sitting on the coast of Gaza, in a staging area, waiting to be picked up by the United Nations for distribution.
The World Food Program halted deliveries earlier this month due to safety concerns.
Reuters was given rare access to the US military-run pier off the coast of Gaza on Tuesday and watched as aid pallets were moved from a ship onto the 370-metre-long pier as it swayed with the incoming waves. The pallets were then trucked to the coast.
The operation is complex and involves approximately 1,000 American soldiers. The Pentagon estimates that the first 90 days of the operation will cost about $230 million.
Rogers also noted that three U.S. service members suffered non-combat injuries during the operation.
“I urge the government to immediately halt this failed operation before another catastrophe occurs and consider alternative means of delivering humanitarian assistance on land and air,” Rogers wrote.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart)
