A Defense Department report revealed a serious lack of training and other gaps led to $31 million in damaged American equipment, injuries, and one death.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The short-lived American floating pier built last year off the Gaza coast to enable massive deliveries of humanitarian aid by the Biden administration was officially labeled a dud Tuesday in Washington.

The report by the Defense Department Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) pulled no punches in slamming the ill-preparedness of the troops ordered to build, use and maintain the $230 million pier that was officially in existence for three months, from May to July 2024.

Operation Neptune Solace was marked by “low equipment mission-capable rates and low manning and training levels” of both its the Army and Navy personnel, it said.

The two services also “did not organize, train, and equip to a common joint standard,” it charged.

This led to 27 watercraft and other equipment needing repairs to the tune of $31 million, the report found, as “Army- and Navy-specific equipment, including watercraft, piers, and causeways, as well as command, control, and communications systems, was not interoperable.”

The report also criticized those who designed the pier, saying that they “did not fully consider mission-specific information requirements, such as beach conditions, average sea states, and other factors.”

All this resulted in the floating dock being in actual use for only 20 days.

It had to be dismantled and rebuilt twice due to the danger of high seas common to the area in the summer.

At one point in May, four boats that were part of the pier’s support system broke off, and a few days later, sections of the floating causeway were severed, all due to bad weather, forcing operations to shut down while repairs were made.

There was a human cost as well, with three American troops hurt while working on the pier, one of whom later died of his injuries.

The findings supplemented a negative report issued by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of the Inspector General a month after the pier was dismantled for the final time and the mission declared complete.

While the military said with satisfaction that some 900 metric tons of aid had been delivered through the pier to UN warehouses for distribution, this was less than a third of what had been envisioned, according to USAID’s August report.

It was also not known how much of that aid actually ended up in the hands of ordinary Gazans, it said, noting “multiple instances of looting after aid was collected from the beach and transported into Gaza, attacks on … warehouses, and drivers being detained or shot.”

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The Pentagon dismantled the $230 million Gaza pier in July after just three weeks of operation.

By Blake Mauro, The Washington Free Beacon

A U.S. Army soldier died last week after suffering non-combat injuries earlier this year while supporting President Joe Biden’s
humanitarian pier off the coast of Gaza, the military announced Monday.

Sergeant Quandarius Davon Stanley, 23, sustained critical injuries in May while working on the U.S.-built pier, which Biden said would support the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Stanley recently retired from the military due to the injuries and was undergoing treatment at a long-term care facility before his death on Oct. 31.

“Stanley was an instrumental and well respected first line leader in the 7th Transportation Brigade Expeditionary (TBX), especially during the mission to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza,” Colonel John Gray said.

Two other service members sustained minor injuries during the pier’s operation and have since returned to duty, the Times of Israel reported.

The Pentagon dismantled the $230 million Gaza pier in July after just three weeks of operation.

The corridor helped the U.S. military deliver 137 trucks of aid into the war-torn region, but several of the trucks were intercepted before they could reach the civilian population.

Aid groups criticized the project as ineffective and wasteful. Its 20-day operation was plagued by rough weather and security problems that drastically limited the amount of aid entering Gaza.

Biden, who first announced the pier’s construction during his State of the Union speech in March, expressed his disappointment over the project’s failure at a news conference in July.

“I’ve been disappointed that some of the things that I put forward have not succeeded as well—like the port we attached from Cyprus,” Biden said. “I was hopeful that would be more successful.”

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US tried to repair makeshift pier set up off Gaza coast, only to announce that it is no longer needed.

By World Israel News Staff

The United States has officially closed the door on further use of the floating makeshift pier established off the coast of the Gaza Strip, after the structure was damaged earlier this year, with parts of the pier floating away and washing up on Israeli beaches.

“The maritime surge mission involving the pier is complete,” said Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of US Central Command, on Wednesday.

“So there’s no more need to use the pier.”

“Our assessment is that the temporary pier has achieved its intended effect to surge a very high volume of aid into Gaza and ensure that aid reaches the civilians in Gaza in a quick manner.”

The $230 million makeshift structure operated for less than one month, and was plagued with mishaps during its brief use as an entry point for aid to the Gaza Strip.

The off-shore pier was constructed by American military forces and opened in May, following President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in March in which he vowed to open up a pier for the delivery of humanitarian aid.

After operating for two weeks, the pier was severely damaged in a storm. Parts of the pier sank, with elements of the structure drifting to nearby Ashdod.

The U.S. Central Command repaired the pier in Ashdod, reopening it 10 days later.

However, the pier was forced to close once again in June due to high winds and rough seas.

According to sources who spoke to the Associated Press, the pier distributed roughly 500 truckloads of aid – which is equivalent to just one day of pre-war deliveries.

Last week, U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press that the pier, which is currently docked in Ashdod, Israel, will be briefly re-anchored in Gaza to distribute the last of aid from Cyprus, before being dismantled.

However, on Wednesday the U.S. apparently scraped its plans to temporarily put the pier back into use.

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“This pier was a massive waste of money that had no value other than virtue signaling to Biden’s base,” said former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

By World Israel News Staff

The U.S. military is expected to soon dismantle a $230 million floating pier built to provide aid to Gazan civilians, which was plagued with technical issues and operated for just 20 days.

Unnamed U.S. officials told the Associated Press that the pier, which is currently docked in Ashdod, Israel, will be briefly re-anchored in Gaza to distribute the last of aid from Cyprus that has been piling up.

After the aid is unloaded, it will be permanently disassembled.

The off-shore pier was constructed by American military forces and opened in May, but has been beset by numerous issues related to bad weather and rough seas.

After operating for two weeks, the pier was severely damaged in a storm. Parts of the pier sank, with elements of the structure drifting to nearby Ashdod.

Two boats attached to the pier were washed ashore as far north as Tel Aviv, while an additional two boats were found on the beach in Gaza.

The U.S. Central Command repaired the pier in Ashdod, reopening it 10 days later.

However, the pier was forced to close once again in June due to high winds and rough seas.

According to sources who spoke to the Associated Press, the pier distributed roughly 500 truckloads of aid – which is equivalent to just one day of pre-war deliveries.

Some commentators, including former high-ranking American officials, said the project was aimed at pandering to left-wing voters who are frustrated with President Joe Biden over the Israel-Hamas war.

“This pier was a massive waste of money that had no value other than virtue signaling to Biden’s base,” David Friedman, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Israel under former president Donald Trump, wrote on his X account in May.

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U.S. Central Command helped deliver about 19.4 million pounds of aid via the temporary pier since May 17, said Sabrina Singh, the deputy Pentagon press secretary.

By JNS

The temporary “trident” pier, also called the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, that Washington has used to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza may not return to the coast, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a press briefing last week.

U.S. Central Command decided to remove the pier and tow it to Ashdod “due to high sea states expected this weekend,” Sabrina Singh, the deputy Pentagon press secretary, told reporters on Friday.

“As always, the safety of our service members is a top priority, and temporarily relocating the pier will prevent potential structural damage that could be caused by the heightened sea state,” Singh said.

“U.S. Central Command will continue to provide updates on the status of the temporary pier, as will we from this podium.”

The Pentagon suggested that it is unclear if, or when, the pier would be reanchored to the Gazan coast.

“The pier could be floated back to Gaza again if the commander makes that determination based on the sea state,” the Pentagon said.

Singh told reporters that CENTCOM delivered more than 10 million pounds of aid into Gaza in the past seven days.

“For historical context, following the devastating tsunami in 2011, DOD delivered about 3 million pounds of aid to Japan over approximately two months,” she said.

“So just again for context, in the last week, the temporary pier alone deliver—triple—almost tripled that volume,” she said.

“Additionally, the pier provided the second-highest volume of aid from any entry point into Gaza this past week.”

U.S. Central Command helped deliver about 19.4 million pounds of aid via the temporary pier since May 17, she said.

Singh was asked about reports that the pier wouldn’t return to the Gazan coast “because of the backlog in shipments.”

“I wouldn’t say that’s correct in terms of the backlog of shipments,” she said. “There is a need for more aid. I think what you’re referring to is in Cyprus. We do need more aid to come into Cyprus.”

“We are pretty close to full on the marshaling yard in terms of how much aid is there,” she added. “As I mentioned at the top, this pier has provided the second most volume of aid over all the other crossings in Gaza, so we’ve certainly seen its capability. We’ve seen the importance of what it can do.”

“As high sea states are impacting the operability of the pier, that’s why it’s being removed. When the commander decides that it is the right time to reinstall that pier, we’ll keep you updated on that,” she added.

“So it may not go back?” she was asked.

“As of right now, the intention is to continue to get aid into Gaza by any means necessary. That includes the pier, airdrops and of course, as we’ve always said with the pier, it is meant to be temporary,” Singh said.

“It is not the long-term solution or solve for land routes. We know that’s the most effective way in, but that’s really a decision that the commander will make as we continue to evaluate the high sea states.”

“But I don’t have a date of when the pier would be reinstalled,” she said.

“You don’t have a date?” a reporter asked.

“I don’t right now. The commander will continue to assess the sea states over the weekend. That could lead into next week,” she said.

“So we’re going to continue to monitor the environmental and weather factors, and once we have a better update, we’ll certainly provide that.”

She added that “if there’s not enough room on the marshaling yard, then it doesn’t make sense to put our men and women out there when there’s nothing to move.”

“There is still room. I don’t want to give the impression that it’s at capacity. It is certainly full, but we do need to see that marshaling yard open up to allow for aid groups to continue that distribution so that we can get more aid in as we get it from Cyprus,” she said.

“Six weeks ago today, the pier began operating, if my math is right, and it’s been down for roughly two and a half weeks. Has the pier lived up to its expectations?” a reporter asked.

“I would say it certainly has,” Singh said. “I mean, just it might have been operating for, you know, six weeks, and during that time, yes, we have had periods of time where we’ve had to pull it offline cause of weather, we’ve had periods of time where we’ve had to do repairs.”

“But as I mentioned in my topper, since May 17, we’ve had over 19 million pounds of aid delivered to the shore in Gaza,” she said.

“That is, I’d say, a great success. And you have to remember that at the beginning of this year, in the State of the Union, the President directed this maritime corridor be established. And I think it has been successful, because at the end of the day, not enough aid is getting into the people of Gaza.”

“And yes, there are still aid that is sitting in that marshaling area awaiting further distribution. We’re working with groups to make sure that happens,” she added. “But I would say that our men and women in uniform have done really heroic work to get that aid to the people that need it most.”

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The pier required more than 1,000 U.S. service members for its construction and operation and is estimated to cost taxpayers $230 million.

By Jameson Mitrovic, The Washington Free Beacon

President Joe Biden’s $230 million humanitarian pier on the coast of Gaza has been deemed a failure by aid groups and could be permanently shut down, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

The pier was only functional for 10 days when it had to be shut down for repairs after rough weather. It will now likely be dismantled weeks earlier than expected, per the report.

The Biden administration said the pier would be in operation until September, but military officials expect the pier to be dismantled within the next month.

Aid groups have criticized the pier for being largely ineffective and doing little to usher aid into Gaza since Biden ordered the military to construct it in March.

The pier required more than 1,000 U.S. service members for its construction and operation and is estimated to cost taxpayers $230 million.

While the pier was still in operation, it transported 137 trucks of aid, but much of that aid did not reach Gazan civilians because the trucks were intercepted, according to the Pentagon.

On Sunday, the Israeli military announced daytime pauses in fighting in certain locations in southern Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians.

The pause applies to about 7.4 miles of road in Rafah and takes place every day between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. COGAT, a unit in the Israeli military that oversees aid in Gaza, said the pause would increase aid flow into Rafah and other parts of southern Gaza.

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The temporary dock began operating again Saturday morning but was only used for delivering humanitarian aid, the American army said.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The U.S. army denied Hamas reports Sunday that its newly repaired pier off the Gaza coast was used in any way to help Israel rescue four hostages the previous day, although the Americans did reportedly provide intelligence assistance.

“The humanitarian pier facility, including its equipment, personnel, and assets were not used in the operation to rescue hostages today in Gaza,” the U.S. Central Command announced on X. “An area south of the facility was used by the Israelis to safely return the hostages to Israel. Any such claim to the contrary is false.”

In video clips shared widely online, an Israeli Blackhawk helicopter, which is manufactured in the U.S., can be seen taking off from the beach with the pier in the background.

The rescue force used two helicopters to deliver Noa Argamani, Almog Meir, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv to Israel from Hamas captivity in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Other helicopters were used in airstrikes to support the elite units while they performed the high-risk, daytime extraction.

In a separate post, CENTCOM said that on Saturday it delivered 492 metric tons of assistance, which “is entirely humanitarian in nature.” It also emphasized that “No U.S. military personnel went ashore in Gaza.”

Two American officials told CBS News Saturday that the U.S. had helped Israel prepare for the rescue by facilitating in the intelligence sphere, although they refused to go into any details.

According to IDF Chief Spokesman Daniel Hagari, the Israeli forces had been “preparing for this rescue operation for weeks.”

Its execution was delayed several times, with the need for better intelligence regarding the hostages’ exact location reportedly among other reasons for putting it off.

After their release, the hostages said they had been moved several times during their exactly eight months of captivity, having been kidnapped from the Nova dance festival during Hamas’ brutal invasion on October 7, in which its forces and other terrorists murdered 1,200 and took a total of 253 hostage.

There are still 120 hostages in Hamas hands, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

The IDF said some 90 Gazans were killed in the operation, which involved a prolonged fire fight with Hamas forces in and around the two civilian apartment buildings in which the four Israelis were being held. The army did not put a figure as yet on the number of noncombatants who may have been killed in the crossfire.

Hamas claimed that about 200 people were killed, but as per their usual statistics, did not differentiate between non-combatant and combatants.

Vice President Kamala Harris was careful to acknowledge the suffering of the Palestinians at a Democratic Party dinner Saturday in Michigan, a swing state with a large Muslim population in which many are angry at the Biden administration’s support of Israel.

“Before I begin, I’ll just say a few words about the morning which I know weighs heavily on all of our hearts,” she said.

“On October seventh, Hamas committed a brutal massacre of 1,200 innocent people and abducted 250 hostages,” she said. “Thankfully four of those hostages were reunited with their families tonight. And we mourn all of the innocent lives that have been lost in Gaza, including those tragically killed today.”

She then reiterated the president’s statement last week that “it is time for this war to end.”

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Heavy seas are blamed for sections cracking off of the $320 million aid delivery station.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The pier that the Americans built off the Gaza coast to facilitate aid delivery to Palestinians has broken and is currently unusable, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

“The rebuilding and repairing of the pier will take at least over a week, and following completion will need to be re-anchored to the coast of Gaza,” Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said in a briefing.

The section attached to the beach will be detached and moved to an Israeli city for repairs.

Officials are blaming heavy seas for the fact that sections have fractured off not even two weeks after the huge floating dock became operational.

Four ships that had stabilized the pier had also become detached due to bad weather over this past weekend. Two got stuck on a beach a few miles away, near Ashdod. One of them was pulled off after more than a day of various attempts, including by the Israeli navy.

Recent videos circulating on social media showed a large section of the pier seemingly floating free close to shore, and at least one video claimed that a part had sunk.

The pier had been used to offload humanitarian aid coming in by sea, with trucks running the pallets of food, water and medical supplies to Gazan warehouses managed by international aid organizations.

The US army is only in charge of the operation on the sea-end, with no personnel on the ground of the coastal enclave.

US Central Command posted to X on Sunday that that 903 metric tons of aid had successfully been “distributed from the beach transfer point to the U.N. warehouse” after being transported from the pier.

How much of it has been actually received by needy Gazan citizens is the question.

When announcing the total tonnage that had arrived ashore last week, the Pentagon spokesperson admitted that as far as the Americans knew, none of the aid had yet to get to its intended, civilian recipients.

Critics of the pier project, which had been announced by President Joe Biden in March, included several Republican lawmakers. One, Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, told Fox News Digital Saturday that the trucks were getting “ransacked,” and “When they do make it to the warehouse, it’s Hamas controlling the warehouses,” so the terrorists would benefit instead of ordinary civilians.

Opponents also decried the project’s whopping $320 million price tag, which they pointed out was only for the first 90 days of the pier’s operation.

The now-needed repairs will raise that price immediately.

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The $320 million price tag is too high, it puts U.S. troops in danger, and won’t accomplish its goals, says Rep. Michael Waltz.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The pier that the Biden administration built at the Gazan coast to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid is close to being a fiasco according to Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL), who spoke to Fox News Digital Saturday.

“It’s unnecessarily putting our people in harm’s way,” the lawmaker said. “It’s costing a lot. It’s pulling assets that should be used elsewhere, and I just don’t think it’s going to accomplish anything near what [President Joe Biden] promised.”

There are about a thousand American troops involved in the project.

Three were injured, one critically, while operating a forklift on a U.S. cargo ship last Thursday, but there is always the danger of Palestinians either launching rockets at the pier or shooting American soldiers, as they are within rifle-range of the coast.

“They are within small arms range of any militants that want to fire on them from Gaza, much less the types of drones or missiles that we’ve seen in the Red Sea,” Waltz noted.

Several Palestinian terror groups have said that they consider the floating port a target because it was “a service to the Zionist enemy and an act of propaganda and deception.”

They warned all Palestinian, Arab and international parties “against coordinating with the American administration or working in this port.”

Waltz also decried the “over $300 million” price tag of transporting, building and safeguarding the pier, which is about double the initial cost estimates.

“Obviously, the longer it’s there, the more those costs are going to skyrocket,” he pointed out.

Fellow Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi told Reuters last month that “This dangerous effort with marginal benefit will now cost the American taxpayers at least $320 million to operate the pier for only 90 days.”

Waltz agreed with the minimal benefit appraisal, saying that the main point of the pier, the delivery of aid to Gazan civilians, was not being accomplished at all.

“It’s going to run into the exact same problems the land routes have faced,” he said. “Once they get across the border, the trucks get ransacked. They get attacked.”

“When they do make it to the warehouse, it’s Hamas controlling the warehouses,” he continued. “They sit under the veneer of the UN, but the UN is hugely influenced, if not controlled in Gaza by Hamas.”

Last Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday that more than 569 metric tons of aid had been delivered to Gaza via the pier, but that “As it was being taken along the transportation route, it was intercepted by some people who took that aid off those vehicles.”

The list of woes afflicting the project can now include the grounding of one of the American vessels on the beach near a piece of the pier that had broken off, reportedly due to strong winds in the area.

Both Israeli and American naval craft worked unsuccessfully throughout Saturday to free the landing craft, LCM 8558, that had become stuck in the sand when a cable got twisted around its propeller.

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Meanwhile, politicians and the media keep lying about Israel causing a ‘humanitarian crisis.’

By Daniel Greenfield, Frontpage Magazine

If you’re keeping track, Biden announced that America was going to spend two months building a floating pier to deliver aid to Gaza at a cost of $300 million that would be operated by the U.S. military.

Then the pier came under attack by terrorists, was withdrawn to the Israeli port of Ashdod for repairs while the Biden administration conducted backchannel talks with Hamas urging it not to attack the pier, then redeployed for aid deliveries and it’s been a smashing success.

For Hamas.

The good news was that the Pentagon press secretary announced that 569 metric tons of humanitarian assistance has been delivered across the temporary pier in Gaza.

The bad news was that according to the same press secretary, none of the aid has gotten through to any recognized aid distribution points.

Did the aid get to the people of Gaza? “I do not believe so,” he answered.

So they’re now looking for “alternate routes”.

Meanwhile, politicians and the media keep lying about Israel causing a “humanitarian crisis” when indeed the only aid to Gaza is coming through Israel because Egypt blocked its crossing into Rafah once all the tunnels going from Egypt to Rafah were exposed once the Israelis went in (which they weren’t supposed to because that would expose all the tunnels.)

Egypt isn’t getting blamed for ‘starving’ Gazans, Israel is. In reality, there’s plenty of food in Gaza because we keep sending food. Hamas and other armed groups then steal the food and resell it.

It’s no surprise to any of the so-called aid groups because this is exactly what Islamic terrorists have been doing to them in Yemen, Afghanistan and all around the world. They know it works this way and they’re lying about it every day.

So is the Biden administration. After building its very own shiny delivery system into Gaza, it can’t actually deliver the aid because it’s being stolen. And somehow that too will be Israel’s fault.

Meanwhile, Hamas has pocketed millions more in profits from the aid that it’s being sent to resell to Gazans. At this rate, the longer the war runs, the more money it makes.

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Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of CENTCOM, said that the goal is for 500 tons of humanitarian aid, or 90 trucks, to pass into Gaza through the pier daily, eventually increasing to 150 trucks a day.

By Joshua Marks, JNS

Close to three-fourths of the humanitarian aid transported from a new $320 million floating pier built by the U.S. military off the Gaza coast was stolen on Saturday en route to a U.N. warehouse, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Eleven trucks “were cleaned out by Palestinians” on the journey to the World Food Programme warehouse in Deir El Balah in the central Strip, with only five truckloads making it to the destination.

“They’ve not seen trucks for a while,” a U.N. official told Reuters. “They just basically mounted on the trucks and helped themselves to some of the food parcels.”

According to the United Nations, no aid was delivered to the warehouse from the U.S. military’s pier on Sunday and Monday.

The United Nations said that 10 truckloads of food aid from the pier arrived at the warehouse on Friday, its first day of operation. It was transported by U.N. contractors.

“We need to make sure that the necessary security and logistical arrangements are in place before we proceed,” said the U.N. official.

According to Israeli estimates, Hamas has been stealing up to 60% of the aid entering the Gaza Strip, and a Channel 12 report last week revealed that the terrorist organization has made at least $500 million in profit off humanitarian aid since the start of the war on Oct. 7.

The pier was pre-assembled at the Israeli port of Ashdod before being anchored to a beach in the coastal enclave on Thursday. No American troops went ashore during the installation of the pier, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). Some 1,000 U.S. soldiers and sailors helped build the floating pier.

The Israel Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit announced on Saturday that “hundreds of pallets of humanitarian aid” and more than 160,000 liters of fuel had entered via the pier.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of CENTCOM, said that the goal is for 500 tons of humanitarian aid, or 90 trucks, to pass into Gaza through the pier daily, eventually increasing to 150 trucks a day.

CENTCOM tweeted early Tuesday that over 569 metric tons of humanitarian assistance has been unloaded from the pier so far.

USAID and the U.S. Department of Defense are leading the effort, alongside Cyprus, the United Nations and international donors, including the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Romania and the European Union, CENTCOM said.

The aid is transported via sea from Cyprus where it is screened, and the United Nations receives the aid in Gaza and coordinates its distribution.

Israel is also helping to facilitate the entry of aid via the pier.

Reuters also reported that “food and medicine for Palestinians in Gaza are piling up in Egypt because the Rafah crossing remains closed.”

Israel took operational control of the crossing weeks ago, but Cairo so far has refused to cooperate with Israeli authorities to facilitate the entry of aid through Rafah. The Israeli government wants to allow aid into Gaza through the crossing but is unable to do so without Egyptian cooperation.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz last week placed the responsibility for averting a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip squarely on the shoulders of Egypt.

Katz said he had spoken with his British and German counterparts “about the need to persuade Egypt to reopen the Rafah Crossing to allow the continued delivery of international humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

While the world places the responsibility for Gaza’s humanitarian situation on Israel, he added, “the key to preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now in the hands of our Egyptian friends.”

Meanwhile, COGAT on Thursday approved the resumption of commercial trade between Israel the Strip, with truck deliveries starting the following morning, Israel’s Walla! News outlet reported on Sunday.

According to the report, 150 trucks loaded with produce from Israel—not aid—crossed into Gaza intended for merchants who purchased the produce, which is “intended for Hamas members and the civilian population.”

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‘The Biden administration involving UNRWA in any part of their half-baked Gaza pier scheme would be illegal,’ said Sen. Tom Cotton.

By Adam Kredo, The Washington Free Beacon

The Biden administration says it is channeling aid for a pier system built off the coast of the Gaza Strip through the entirety of the United Nations’ humanitarian infrastructure, comments that come after a top U.S. official confirmed the United States is still relying on the Hamas-linked Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for aid distribution.

But officials from across the administration will not detail the extent of UNRWA’s involvement in their ongoing humanitarian efforts.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is leading U.S. aid operations, said last week that “the entire U.N. family should and will be able to benefit from the distribution networks” established through America’s aid pier. It is definitely a U.N.-wide participation,” Daniel Dieckhaus, USAID’s response director, told reporters during a Wednesday briefing.

Samantha Power, USAID’s top official, said on Friday the pier is part of a joint aid operation led by the United States, Arab nations, the U.N., and international donors.

Power, during an April 10 briefing before Congress, said, “UNRWA infrastructure is still being relied upon, including by USAID’s partners” to deliver aid into the Gaza Strip.

UNRWA, Power said at the time, is “at the heart of the response” to the humanitarian situation, and is being used by the U.S. government even after Congress froze American funding to the organization as a result of its ties to Hamas and participation by some of its employees in the terror group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

As the pier becomes active and aid begins to be distributed, Biden administration officials from USAID, the State Department, and the Defense Department will not disclose the extent of UNRWA’s involvement in their effort to pump humanitarian goods into the Hamas-controlled territory.

America’s ties to UNRWA are driving opposition on Capitol Hill, with Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), telling the Washington Free Beacon that the Biden administration is trying to circumvent congressional prohibitions on U.S. support for the aid group.

“The Biden administration is using the Gaza Pier to do an end-run around Congress and funnel resources through UNRWA, which means they’re funneling resources to Hamas,” Cruz said.

“It’s another disgraceful example of just how far they are willing to go as part of their pathological obsession with undermining Israel.”

The Pentagon was asked on Thursday about the United States’ reliance on UNRWA, but would not provide reporters with a clear answer.

“I’m not going to get into sort of specific partners on who we’re working with but the corridor is in support for the entire humanitarian effort and the U.N. family,” Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, said in response to questions about the Defense Department’s aid operation.

A Pentagon spokesman told the Free Beacon that it is not “coordinating with UNRWA on the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” but would not answer specific questions about whether this aid is ultimately funneled through UNRWA’s infrastructure once it arrives in Gaza.

A USAID spokesman confirmed that “multiple humanitarian organizations” will be used by the agency as it distributes supplies in Gaza, but also would not answer specific questions about whether those groups include UNRWA.

“Aid must reach people in Gaza through all available avenues to address the dire humanitarian crisis,” the USAID spokesman said. “The primary U.N. partner that will be managing the reception and dispatch of the aid coming into the offloading area of the maritime pier will be the Logistics Cluster, but the Humanitarian Maritime Corridor is intended to be used by multiple humanitarian organizations.”

Congressional sources working on the issue said that it is nearly impossible for the Biden administration to distribute aid from the pier without enlisting UNRWA’s humanitarian channels in Gaza.

The State Department declined to comment, citing USAID’s chief role in aid distribution.

Around 10 percent of UNRWA’s workforce is believed to be affiliated with Hamas. Congress froze U.S. aid to the organization earlier this year as it became increasingly clear that Hamas is using U.N. facilities as operations centers to conduct attacks on Israel.

Republican critics say the Biden administration is using the pier to bolster UNRWA at a time when its alleged links to Hamas forced many international donors to freeze their funding.

While U.S. funding remains frozen, the State Department told the Free Beacon in March that it continues to work with the group and coordinate activities with international partners.

“Congress has explicitly prohibited any U.S. taxpayer dollars to be spent on the Hamas front organization known as UNRWA,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the Free Beacon.

“The Biden administration involving UNRWA in any part of their half-baked Gaza pier scheme would be illegal.”

Cruz, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced last week that he is planning to force the Senate to vote on continued support for the aid operation.

Cruz is eyeing a War Powers Resolution vote that would stop the American military from engaging in “construction, maintenance, and operation” of the pier, Axios reported.

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They seem confident that if the Biden administration rewards them for their malign behavior, it is working, so why not keep it up?

By Bassam Tawil, Gatestone Institute

More than $300 million has been spent by the Biden administration to construct a floating pier on the coast of the Gaza Strip to aid the local Palestinian population.

Rather than expressing gratitude to the US, the Palestinians have publicly denounced the Biden administration and warned Arabs and Palestinians not to cooperate with the project.

They seem confident that if the Biden administration is rewarding them for malign behavior, it is clearly working, so why not keep it up?

The Palestinians are hoping to scare the Americans and prevent them from cooperating with Israel on the future of the Gaza Strip after the war.

The US move coincides with the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group is continuing to hold hostage more than 120 Israelis who were abducted from Israel on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched its cross-border invasion from the Gaza Strip.

Based on the responses of Hamas and other terrorist groups, the pier will not help end the war or free the hostages.

The Biden administration did not, it seems, even demand that, in return for the humanitarian aid, the hostages be released or that the terrorists stop launching rockets into Israel.

Apparently, the Biden administration did not even request assurances that the aid would not be seized and diverted by the terrorists.

On May 18, as soon as the first relief supplies transported over the pier arrived in the Gaza Strip, a large number of Palestinians stopped the trucks and stole food — most likely to be sold in the local markets. According to Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism:

“Unconditional ‘humanitarian aid’ to genocidal entities that systematically trample principles that anchor it – from countries, institutions, and mechanisms created and entrusted to uphold and protect them – is complicity that fuels gravest violators with impunity.”

Cotler-Wunsh was commenting on a report by veteran Israeli expert on Arab and Palestinian affairs Ehud Yaari, who revealed that Hamas has earned at least $500 million from the aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war in October 2023.

Although the Biden administration’s action is guaranteed to increase the terrorists’ financial resources and assure that they have an ample supply of aid, Hamas and other Palestinians have no problem taking the aid and at the same time cursing the Americans and threatening to target US soldiers overseeing the delivery of the aid into the Gaza Strip.

They consider the presence of US troops in the region as another form of “occupation” and an unwelcome intervention in the internal affairs of the Arabs in the Middle East.

The Palestinians have a history of showing no gratitude to those who provide them with food, money and jobs.

When Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, Palestinians there took to the streets to celebrate, although hundreds of thousands of them had been living and working in the Gulf country for many years.

After Kuwait was liberated by the US-led coalition a year later, the Kuwaitis deported 287,000 of the 357,000 Palestinians living there.

Since then, the majority of Arab countries have declined to give the Palestinians financial support. The Palestinians were quick to condemn the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain for signing normalization agreements with Israel four years ago, despite the fact that a large number of Palestinians live and work in these Gulf states.

The Palestinians’ accusations that the UAE and Bahrain had “betrayed” the Palestinian cause and Jerusalem strained relations between them and the Gulf states. Many Gulf residents responded by accusing the Palestinians of ingratitude.

Saudi columnist Hani Al-Zahiri called on the Palestinians to realize that their leaders have been maintaining the status quo in the Palestinian cause in order to benefit no one but themselves – and that is why they have rejected every peace initiative. “The situation of our Palestinian brothers is regrettable,” Al-Zahiri wrote.

“For over 60 years, their politicians have cashed in on their cause, and persisted in not reaching an arrangement, in destroying the negotiations, and in opposing every peace initiative, whether proposed by the Israelis or by other international elements.

The Palestinian politician has inflicted this on his cause and his people in order to profit from leaving things as they are, since the way he has chosen for decades was the only way to guarantee that he would remain in the picture and [benefit from the] influx of funds, donations and aid flowing from all directions, particularly from the Arab and Islamic world, into his coffers and his European bank accounts…

“I, as an Arab Muslim, am sorry about the situation of the Palestinian who has been bought and sold by his political leaders, and I wish them all the best [also wish him] an awakening from his coma and adoption of [a path] that will serve him and his future well.”

Evidently, the Palestinians have not learned from the past. Their criticism of the US pier is simply another example of their longstanding practice of insulting those who assist them.

The Palestinians, however, are doing more than just criticizing the US. They are also threatening to attack US troops posted at the pier. The Palestinians are planning to launch terrorist attacks against US military servicemen.

On May 18, a number of Palestinian terrorist groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), warned of the dangers of the pier and said they would treat any foreign presence in the region as an “occupying force.” The PFLP said:

“The US administration’s establishment of a floating port on the coast of the Gaza Strip is a cause for concern, and we warn of the dangers of using it to implement other goals and plans, such as the displacement [of Palestinians] or protecting the [Israeli] occupation, and not to transport aid. We warn any Palestinian, Arab or international parties against coordinating with the American administration or working in this port.”

The PRC, for its part, said:

“We view with great danger the American floating pier dock and warn against it, as the American administration is a major partner and supporter of the Zionist aggression and war of annihilation against our people in the Gaza Strip. The pier is a service to the Zionist enemy and an act of propaganda and deception.”

The PRC also threatened to target US soldiers at the pier:

“We reject any Zionist or foreign presence on the shore of the Gaza Sea or its crossings, and any American, Zionist, or other force present on any inch of our land will be a legitimate target for our resistance.”

Although Hamas has apparently made a huge profit from the aid entering the Gaza Strip through the pier, and seems set to make even more, it accuses the Biden administration of “trying to beautify its ugly face and appear civilized.”

Even the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah faction, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, has come out against the Biden administration’s pier in the Gaza Strip.

Fatah spokesman Abdel Fattah Dawla said that operating the American pier is “a consecration of the [Israeli] occupation of the crossing and a complete isolation of the Gaza Strip.” Dawla urged Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to be wary of any American attempt to use the pier as a crossing border to displace them. So now we have a representative of Abbas’s Fatah faction threatening to target US soldiers.

Did the Biden administration file a protest with Abbas or the PA over these threats? No. The Biden administration is too busy pressuring Israel not to launch military operations to eradicate Hamas’s four battalions in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah and release the Israeli hostages.

Palestinians, in the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, have been mocking the US pier.

“We don’t need the [US aid],” said Jamila Abu Arabiya, a woman from the Gaza Strip.

“Our homes are gone. Do they want to bring us some food, some potatoes and tomatoes and canned food? They should bring us back all our homes and stop the bloodshed.”

Hassan Abu Al-Kass, another resident of the Gaza Strip, said:

“They throw food at us like dogs, like beggars. That doesn’t work. It falls on houses, it falls on people. It brings us problems.”

So long as supplies are getting into the Gaza Strip, Hamas will not stop fighting or free the hostages.

Because of the Gaza pier, the Biden administration has made it immensely harder to free the hostages and end the war.

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Ships will set sail from Cyprus to the floating platform a few kilometers off the Gazan shore, before being loaded onto smaller vessels.

By Mike Wagenheim, JNS

A floating pier constructed off the Gaza coast by the U.S. Army is set to become operational “in the coming days,” according to Dan Dieckhaus, response director for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Dieckhaus said humanitarian aid currently on the other end of the maritime corridor, in Cyprus, was being inspected and loaded

Ships will set sail from Cyprus to the floating platform a few kilometers off the Gazan shore, before being loaded onto smaller vessels. Trucks will await these ships along a floating causeway and transport the aid to land, where the World Food Programme and other United Nations entities will handle distribution.

But Dieckhaus said he remains concerned about what he intimated was slow progress on improved deconfliction measures with the Israel Defense Forces to ensure humanitarian aid workers don’t come under attack.

The deaths of seven staffers of the World Central Kitchen in a mistaken Israeli strike in Gaza last month brought tensions between Washington and Jerusalem to a boiling point.

“We have and will continue to press Israel to create the conditions to ensure the safety of humanitarian actors and activities as we call on all parties in this conflict to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian actors,” said Dieckhaus.

There is also the matter of keeping the pier itself safe. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, U.S. Central Command deputy commander, insisted on Wednesday that “the U.S. military’s only role in this effort is to provide our unique logistics capability to enable the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza by USAID and our international partners.”

Over the last few weeks, Cooper said, the United States and Israel had “developed an integrated security plan to protect all the personnel who are working” on and around the pier.

A Hamas mortar attack on the pier last month forced U.N. staff on site to take cover. No injuries were reported.

“We are confident in the ability of this security arrangement to protect those involved,” Cooper said, noting he couldn’t talk specifics.

According to Cooper, two coordination cells—one each in Israel and Cyprus—are in place, and Israel has been “working side by side” with the USAID team, the Cypriots and the United Nations.

“The Israeli government has been highly supportive of this overall effort,” said Cooper.

Dieckhaus said processes are in place to ensure aid reaches its intended target and stays out of the hands of terror groups. That includes “pre-discussions with communities in which they plan to distribute assistance to ensure people are accurately identified,” along with “post-distribution monitoring via phone call or in-person surveys to understand did the assistance actually reach and was kept by those in need.”

However, Dieckhaus said, “I think we would not deny that there is heightened risk in Gaza for a variety of reasons,” adding that the operation is understood to be “a constant risk.”

“We’ll continue to monitor it and make adjustments, and our partners and other humanitarian actors will continue to make adjustments as the risk profile requires,” he added.

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U.S. Department of Defense Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder discussed various US positions on the conflict in Gaza.

By Amichai Stein, JNS

One of the main issues of contention between the United States and Israel regarding the war against Hamas is the planned Israeli operation in Rafah. During his visit to the United States last week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant presented to senior U.S. officials a plan to evacuate almost a million noncombatants from the city.

“We evacuated nearly a million people from northern Gaza at the beginning of the war, and we can do it again,” Gallant told U.S. officials. However, the U.S. administration remains skeptical given the scale of humanitarian infrastructure that will be needed to carry out such a plan.

U.S. Department of Defense Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder recently discussed with JNS Gallant’s visit and the administration’s stance on the conflict.

The Rafah question

Q: What was Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s impression of the Rafah operational plan presented by Minister Gallant?

A: First of all, it was a very productive meeting between Secretary Austin and Minister Gallant. The two, of course, have been in close communication since the beginning of this conflict on Oct. 7.

Their discussion afforded the opportunity to talk about potential operations in Rafah and provided the U.S. perspective in terms of alternative approaches that Israel might consider in conducting those operations.

I won’t speak for Minister Gallant in terms of the kinds of information that he presented, other than to say it was a very robust and very helpful conversation, I think, for all sides.

Q: Is the U.S. vetoing an Israeli operation in Rafah?

A: Well, look, we know that Israel is in a tough fight against Hamas, and we think that we share a common goal, the United States and Israel. We all want to see this terrorist organization defeated and prevented from being able to carry out the kinds of brutal and vicious attacks we saw on Oct. 7.

So really what this is about is working with our Israeli partners to look at ways that Hamas can be defeated and dismantled, while at the same time taking into account the importance of protecting innocent civilians on the ground.

There are over a million people right now that are displaced in Rafah. And so, what we don’t want to see is the humanitarian situation there be exacerbated as Israel does the very important work of eliminating Hamas as a threat to the Israeli people and the region.

Q: But does the U.S. see a viable path for an option or scenario in which Israel can operate in Rafah?

A: I think a better way to say it is that we believe there’s a viable path to defeating Hamas and at the same time taking into account the importance of civilian safety and harm mitigation.

I mean, you’re seeing this play out right now in terms of a potential famine in Gaza, millions of people that are displaced that need food, they need shelter, they need care.

And what we don’t want to see again is that situation exacerbated, which by the way just plays into the strategic aims of Hamas. And so again, I think we all share the common goal of protecting innocent civilians and also defeating and dismantling Hamas as a threat to Israel and the region.

U.S. military aid

In recent weeks there have been many reports about the Biden administration debating whether to halt or limit arms deliveries to Israel. Gallant signed a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken stating Israel is fighting in compliance with international law and is not limiting humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Q: There is some anxiety in Jerusalem about U.S. arms deliveries to Israel. Is there any change in U.S. policy on this issue?

A: First of all, the United States and Israel share a long and deep partnership when it comes to security cooperation. We are committed to Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region.

And when it comes to the war against Hamas, since Oct. 7, we have rushed a significant amount of military assistance to enable Israel to protect its citizens from future terrorist attacks. And that’s not going to stop.

So, our policy has not changed in that regard. At the same time, as you know, we continue to have very frequent and deep discussions with our Israeli partners to take into account the importance of civilian harm mitigation in military operations, again, for all the obvious reasons.

So, we’ll continue to have those discussions, but we will also continue to support Israel’s inherent right of self-defense.

Q: But is there a red line that would cause a change in armament deliveries to Israel?

A: Well, I’m not going to get into hypotheticals. I’m just going to focus on the facts and the reality on the ground today. Again, we understand the threat that Hamas poses. We understand the brutal nature of their attacks on Oct. 7.

And we understand that this heinous terrorist organization has embedded itself in the civilian population in Gaza, in dense urban terrain, and that it presents significant challenges in terms of rooting them out. All that to say, it is also of strategic and moral importance to ensure that innocent civilians, whether they be Israeli or Palestinians, are protected.

The northern front

Q: It seems that war is almost inevitable between Israel and Hezbollah.

A: Well, I would hope not. And we certainly continue to support the diplomatic efforts that are underway to prevent it from becoming a war. And ever since Oct. 7, the United States has been very clear that we’re going to work hard to prevent the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza from spreading into a broader regional war. I don’t think anyone wins if that happens.

And so again, we fully recognize the challenges right now along the northern border. We recognize the challenges of Israelis being displaced. And again, we’re going to continue to be very supportive of diplomatic efforts to reduce those tensions so that Israelis can return to their homes and live in peace.

Q: What will be the U.S. position if Israel feels that there is no other choice but to go to war in the north?

A: Well, again, I don’t want to get into hypotheticals. Again, we support Israel’s inherent right to self-defense.

But what I don’t think anyone wants to see is a broader regional war that extends past Gaza right now because again, no one wins in this situation. And again, we’re going to continue to work very hard as I know Israel is on finding a diplomatic outcome to this challenge.

The U.S. Gaza pier

In his State of the Union address, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the United States will build a pier off the Gaza coast to allow humanitarian aid to arrive via a maritime corridor from Cyprus.

Q: What’s the schedule for building this pier? And will we see U.S. boots on the ground?

A: To be clear right up front, no. You will not see U.S. boots on the ground. No U.S. forces on the ground in Gaza. None at all.

But what we’re doing in support of a broader U.S. government effort and a broader international effort is working to provide another mechanism by which to deliver humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.

And so, this capability, which is a unique U.S. military capability called Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore…enables us to essentially build a temporary pier that will be off Gaza shores, that will be able to receive aid that will be then transported and taken to NGOs and others to be distributed to the people of Gaza.

We’re still working through the details in terms of security on the shore and also the details in terms of the actual delivery and distribution of aid. We’re making very good progress.

You can expect to see probably within the next 30 to 45 days this capability coming online. The one thing I would highlight is this is something we’re communicating very frequently and closely with Israel on, so they’re very well aware of this effort and supportive.

Q: Is there a chance that Israeli soldiers will be the ones who will secure the pier?

A: Well, again, we’re working through all those details right now. I don’t want to get ahead of that process, but we’ll certainly keep you updated.

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