US aid officials and diplomats have highly criticized US President Joe Biden's latest plan to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza by pointing out the many flaws expected to come with the establishment of a temporary floating pier off of Gaza's coastline for the transfer of goods, according to a New York Times report.
Biden announced his plans to build the floating pier last Thursday. The pier is expected to enable the delivery of two million meals a day to Gazans.
Criticism of the plan
One of the plan's main criticisms is the amount of time it will take to create such a port. Currently, Gaza does not have a functioning port, and establishing an entirely new one is expected to take a long time.
According to US officials, the project could take up to 60 days to complete, which is problematic as United Nations officials claim that Gazans are currently facing a famine and are in need of immediate aid.
In addition to the lengthy time expected to complete the initiative, its high cost has also been criticized.
According to two Western diplomats who were briefed on the project, the full cost of the infrastructure could be tens of millions of dollars. It is unclear if these costs are for only the port or if they also include the cost of the supply shipments.
The port plan seems to be problematic logistically as well. US aid officials claimed that delivering aid through the port would not be nearly as effective as transferring the aid via truck delivery.
Furthermore, the shallow depth of the coastal waters of Gaza may prove problematic for the large vessels that are required to ferry the aid.
Who will distribute the aid at the new port?
According to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, officials will test the aid delivery process through the coast in the coming days as a "pilot project."
Distribution at the port will need to be managed and secured by someone on the ground, and who will be in charge of that role is currently unclear. On Friday, Biden told reporters that Israelis would head the distribution. However, Israeli officials have not responded to whether this claim is correct or not.
The United States Army has been coordinating with France, Egypt, and Jordan throughout the last week to airdrop humanitarian aid into Gaza. This process has also been problematic. On Friday, five Gazans were killed by heavy packages airdropped from above when the parachutes on them did not open.