The Pentagon predicted that a stream of humanitarian aid would be arriving in Gaza via the floating pier, but little relief has reached the besieged strip, officials acknowledged this week.

In the week since the U.S. military and allies attached a temporary pier to the Gaza shoreline, Pentagon planners have come face to face with the logistical nightmare that critics had warned would accompany the endeavor.

The Defense Department predicted that a steady stream of humanitarian aid would be arriving in Gaza via the pier by now, but little relief has reached Palestinians in the besieged strip, officials acknowledged this week. Several trucks were looted as they made their way to a warehouse, the U.N. World Food Program said, and the complexity of operating the pier project in a war zone is continuing to slow distribution.

The problems, as expected, are on the back end of the operation. Looting of aid trucks has continued, officials said, and forced the World Food Program to suspend operations for two days. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, suspended food distribution in Rafah on Tuesday, citing lack of security. It added that it had not received any medical supplies for 10 days because of closures and disruptions at the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings.

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  • xmunk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    184·
    24 days ago

    Damn, if only Isreal didn’t purposefully clog all the land crossings.

    Also, we supplied Berlin for a nearly a year by air… the logistics on that were way fucking worse. What kind of military-industrial complex bullshit is making this so hard?

    • Tryptaminev@lemm.eeEnglish
      172·
      24 days ago

      The Berlin Air bridge was landing planes.

      Also no one was attacking the people picking up the goods and the civilian infrastructure, roads, water, sanitation, electricity, hospitals were all intact.

      Israel deliberately destroyed all of those in Gaza and continues to do so.

    • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      24 days ago

      AIPAC money? Does that get to the military or does it only buy politicians?

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    3·
    24 days ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The Defense Department predicted that a steady stream of humanitarian aid would be arriving in Gaza via the pier by now, but little relief has reached Palestinians in the besieged strip, officials acknowledged this week.

    Several trucks were looted as they made their way to a warehouse, the U.N. World Food Program said, and the complexity of operating the pier project in a war zone is continuing to slow distribution.

    Paul D. Eaton, a retired major general, was in Somalia in 1993 when the U.S. military put a pier in place to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians caught in the war there.

    While some food and commercial goods have been entering Gaza in recent days, few people in the war-ravaged enclave can afford to buy them after months of war without regular income.

    Abeer Etefa, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program, said a key to overcoming the aid impasse was receiving Israel’s permission to deliver goods on alternative routes.

    If the project reaches its goal of getting through 150 trucks per day, the shipments of food and other supplies would still fall short of what aid groups say is needed for a war-ravaged population.

    The original article contains 1,190 words, the summary contains 195 words. Saved 84%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!