Follow us on social

gaza pier project

US Gaza pier op was more than a flop, it was a gigantic hazard

New inspector general report proves this was more or less a massive diversion by the Biden admin gone wrong

Analysis | QiOSK

When President Joe Biden announced that the United States military would be building a pier off the shore of Gaza to inject much needed aid to the Palestinians there, he attempted to marshal the old feelings undergirding the "indispensable nation" — we would use our might, know-how, and ability to crack into action to make things right.

Turns out that our might and know-how was desperately lacking and, as time would tell (and skeptics at the time would have told you), making things "right" would have been using the leverage Washington had to tell the Israelis to open up the aid flood gates, not try to build a land bridge to get it in through the back door.

A new Pentagon Inspector General report finds that the pier operation, which took place for several months in the spring of 2024, was a bigger failure than earlier reported. It was also a gigantic hazard. According to the Washington Post, which reported about this today, some 62 military personnel were injured (exact causes still unknown), and one Army soldier, Sgt. Quandarias Stanley, was killed in a forklift accident, dying from his injuries five months later.

The operation cost U.S. taxpayers $320 million (yes, a fraction of the money spent on U.S. weapons to Israel during this time), but barely any assistance if any actually got to the Gazans at the heart of the mission. Meanwhile, according to the IG, more than two dozen U.S. watercraft and other equipment were damaged in a three month time period, causing $31 million in repairs.

The operation, which engaged the Army's Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, as written about in these pages, was supposed to deploy both a floating pier to receive international aid from Cyprus and an extended one connected to the shore. Once built, the one on the shore was shut down at least twice because of the waves and weather conditions. Workers on the shore came under mortar fire, presumably by militants. The food actually got to the beach but it rotted away in warehouses because the Israelis did not offer a workable pathway to get it through the security checkpoints to Gazans inside.

The IG report takes aim at the military for missing the mark, according to the Post:

The Army and Navy did not meet standards for equipment and unit readiness, the report said, “nor did they organize, train, and equip their forces to meet common joint standards.” Transportation Command, which oversees coordination of military assets, also fell short of standards in planning and exercises, the report found....

Crucially, Army and Navy equipment — including watercraft, piers, causeways and communication systems — were not designed to work together, which led to damage in the Gaza operation. Planners also did not think through mission-specific needs, such as beach conditions and sea states, that should have informed how commanders executed the operation.

The mission seemed ill-fated from the beginning as it was born out of the desperation of an administration that, falling short of using the power of the White House to force the Israelis to stop its collective punishment or face a cutoff of Washington's generous support, decided to stage a spectacle to divert the world's attention from its failures. We know now that Biden pushed the military to move forward despite warnings that logistically, it wouldn't work.

It only made things worse, reflecting the impotence of the world's "superpower" and the emptiness of Biden's words and commitment to leadership. A year later, Gaza is facing outright destruction and its people are literally starving to death. The Gaza pier is but an IG report now, a footnote to American folly in this intractable conflict.








Top photo credit: US military releases photos of pier to deliver aid to Gaza (Reuters)
US military releases photos of pier to deliver aid to Gaza (Reuters)
Analysis | QiOSK
Trump and Putin on phone
Top photo credit: Donald Trump (White House photo) and Vladimir Putin (Office of the Russian Federation President)
US-Russia talks: The rubber finally hits the road

Good, bad and ugly: Impact of US Iran strikes on Russia war talks

Europe

To a considerable degree, President Donald Trump won the presidency in 2024 because voters embraced his message of keeping America out of protracted conflicts and his promise to end the war in Ukraine.

The administration has made substantial operational headway, particularly in reopening stable channels for dialogue with Russia, but it has proven difficult to arrive at a framework for a negotiated settlement that enjoys buy-in from all the stakeholders — Ukraine, Russia, and Europe.

keep readingShow less
Trump Netanyahu in Washington
Top photo credit: Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu (Joshua Sukoff / Shutterstock.com)

Netanyahu returns to DC — in triumph or with more to ask?

Middle East

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will arrive in Washington for his third visit of Trump’s second term. Today also marks 21 months of Israel’s war on Gaza. The purpose of the visit remains unclear, and speculation abounds: will Trump and Netanyahu announce a real ceasefire in Gaza? Will Syria join the Abraham Accords? Or might Trump greenlight even broader Israeli action against Iran?

Before Netanyahu’s visit, Trump posted an ultimatum on Truth Social, claiming Israel had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire. He urged Hamas to accept the terms, threatening that “it will only get worse” if it doesn’t. Although Trump intended to pressure Hamas, reiterating a longstanding narrative that portrays the group as the obstacle to peace, Hamas has long maintained that it will only accept a ceasefire if it is part of a process that leads to a permanent end to Israel’s war and its complete withdrawal from the enclave. Netanyahu, for his part, remains adamant that the war must continue until Hamas is eliminated, a goal that even the IDF has described as not militarily viable.

keep readingShow less
POGO The Bunker
Top image credit: Project on Government Oversight

Yes to 'Department of War' name change

Military Industrial Complex

The Bunker appears originally at the Project on Government Oversight and is republished here with permission.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.