Yesterday, Thursday, the US House of Representatives voted to add an amendment to the draft budget of the State Department for the next fiscal year that prohibits the allocation of funds to support the floating dock on the shores of Gaza.
The amendment, introduced by Republican Rep. Waltz Preiss, passed with a vote of 209 in favor and 200 against.
MP Bris said in a session to discuss the ministry’s draft budget that the US administration’s efforts to build the dock were “failing”, and he criticized the financial cost of this facility, which is designated to provide humanitarian aid to the besieged sector.
Republican Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, had formally addressed the Biden administration to request the closure of the floating dock, describing the operation as ineffective, risky and a waste of money.
“I urge the administration to halt this failed operation immediately before another disaster occurs and to consider alternative means of delivering humanitarian aid by land and air,” Rogers wrote in a letter seen by Reuters.
Rogers has long opposed the pier and has previously called for its dismantling, but he has never previously expressed that opinion in a formal letter to the administration.
The Armed Services Committee, which Rogers chairs, is the highest committee overseeing the Pentagon in the House of Representatives, and formal requests from its chairman usually require a response from Pentagon officials.
Biden’s decision
Last March, Biden announced that the US Army would establish a floating pier off the coast of Gaza as a means of bringing in food and other relief supplies.
The U.S. military has been given the task of operating the pier until the end of July, but Isobel Coleman, USAID’s deputy administrator for policy and programs, said this week that the administration may seek to extend the pier’s operation for at least another month.
Aid began arriving in Gaza via the floating dock on May 17, but the crashing waves damaged it and required repairs. Bad weather also reduced the number of days the dock was operational.
“As of June 19, the Joint Logistics Services had worked ashore for about 10 days and had transported only 3,415 tons ashore in Gaza,” Rogers wrote, using the official name of the floating dock system.
Operating the dock is complex, involving about 1,000 American soldiers, and the Pentagon estimates that the first 90 days of operations will cost about $230 million.
In addition to the technical criticism, the director of the government media office in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Al-Thawabta, accused Israel of using the floating platform in “preparing and launching to carry out security and military missions.”
Al-Thawabta said in a press conference last Monday that among these tasks was “committing the crime of the Nuseirat camp massacre” carried out by Israel on June 8, during which 274 Palestinians were martyred.
On June 10, the Pentagon denied that Israel used the floating dock during its operation in Nuseirat to recover 4 of its detainees.