WASHINGTON: The U.N. World Food Program said Tuesday that the new U.S. $320 million pier project for delivering aid to Gaza may fail unless Israel starts providing the conditions the humanitarian groups need to operate safely, after a chaotic launch ended with much of the aid looted and one Palestinian man dead.
Deliveries from the pier were stopped Sunday after Saturday’s aid convoy was unable to reach warehouses within Gaza as intended, the WFP said. The first 10 trucks had entered through the pier on Friday.
The U.N. agency is now reevaluating logistics and security measures and looking for alternate routes within Gaza, said spokesperson Abeer Etefa. The WFP is working with the U.S. Agency for International Development to coordinate delivery of food from the new U.S. route.
None of the 11 aid trucks that left the newly installed dock on a Gaza beach made it to a warehouse as intended Saturday, another WFP spokesperson, Steve Taravella, told The Associated Press. He said they were commandeered by what became a crowd of people gathered nearby.
“Without sufficient supplies entering Gaza, these issues will continue to surface. Community acceptance and trust that this is not a one-off event are essential for this operation’s success,” Taravella said in an email. “We have raised this issue with the relevant parties and reiterated our request for alternative roads to facilitate aid delivery. Unless we receive the necessary clearance and coordination to use additional routes, this operation may not be successful.”
President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. military’s construction of the pier and dock for deliveries of food, high-nutrition treatments and other vital supplies. Israeli restrictions on shipments of food and aid through land borders and overall fighting have put all 2.3 million residents of Gaza in a severe food crisis since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
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Magdy reported from Cairo.
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