President Joe Biden directed the construction of a temporary pier earlier this year to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The initiative, costing $230 million and known as the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore system (JLOTS), aimed to expedite aid delivery to the Palestinian territory, which had been embroiled in conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Despite concerns raised by some U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) staff about the feasibility of the project and its potential impact on advocating for the opening of more efficient land crossings, President Biden announced plans to utilize the temporary pier in his State of the Union address in March.
However, the JLOTS project faced challenges, including weather and security issues, leading aid groups to withdraw from the mission by July. The project operated for only about 20 days, falling short of its goal to provide food for 1.5 million people in Gaza for 90 days.
The United Nations reported that the majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents were struggling to access food, with over half a million facing starvation at the time of the announcement.
Despite setbacks, the U.S. National Security Council highlighted the impact of the pier in delivering food to hungry Palestinians, emphasizing the administration's commitment to addressing the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
However, a watchdog report revealed that the U.S. failed to fulfill commitments made with the World Food Program, including the location of the pier in north Gaza to ensure aid distribution to the most affected areas. Instead, the Pentagon placed the pier in central Gaza, with Israel's military eventually providing security due to the absence of a neutral country willing to do so.
While concerns were raised about the project potentially undermining overall aid efforts, USAID responded by increasing staffing to manage both the pier and land routes simultaneously.
