Pentagon and USAID launch oversight reviews of US pier and humanitarian aid for Gaza amid repeated challenges
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The Pentagon and USAID Inspectors General have launched coordinated reviews of the US humanitarian mission to Gaza where the military’s temporary pier has faced repeated challenges, including breaking apart and the distribution of aid being paused by the UN due to security concerns on the ground.
The Pentagon and USAID Inspectors General have launched coordinated reviews of the US humanitarian mission to Gaza where the military’s temporary pier has faced repeated challenges, including breaking apart and the distribution of aid being paused by the UN due to security concerns on the ground. The Defense Department IG will look specifically at the “effectiveness of DoD’s efforts to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza through the maritime corridor,” a press release on Thursday, announcing the effort, said. The USAID IG will look at the agency’s “plans and controls” over the distribution of aid from the pier, and particularly the handoff of aid from the pier to the World Food Programme. The pier — called the Joint Logistics Over The Shore, or JLOTS — was first established on the Gaza coast in May. It has had to be re-anchored twice: once after it broke apart in heavy seas, a week after it was anchored for the first time, and again when it was disconnected intentionally in anticipation of more heavy seas. WFP has had their distribution of aid from the pier paused for more than two weeks as they assess the security situation on the ground. CNN reported this week that there are more than 6,000 pallets of aid that have been delivered across the pier to the shore, awaiting distribution. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has only grown more dire as the war between Israel and Hamas continues. A report this week from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned that the situation in Gaza “remains catastrophic” and that there is a “high and sustained risk of famine.” “The last few months have demonstrated that food and humanitarian access and malnutrition prevalence can change very quickly, the risk of epidemics is increasing and eight months of extreme pressure on the lives of the population make them much more vulnerable to collapse into famine,” the report said.
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