US military’s Gaza aid pier ‘largely failed’, will end operations ‘weeks earlier’ than planned: Report
The US military-built temporary humanitarian aid pier off the coast of Gaza has largely failed in its mission and will end operations weeks earlier than expected, the New York Times reports, citing aid organisations.
Repairs and security concerns mean the $230m pier, which was built by the US military, has only been operational for a total of 10 days since humanitarian aid started arriving via the pier on May 22.
The Biden administration initially predicted that surging seas would make the pier inoperable come September, but military officials are now warning aid groups that the pier could be dismantled as early as July, according to the Times report.
The pier aimed to boost the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza in response to Israel’s blockade of land routes, but it has failed to meet even the modest goals set for it. US officials hope that warnings about the pier’s impeding closure will pressure Israel into opening more land routes, according to the Times.
Environmental impact of Israel’s war on Gaza will take ‘decades to unwind’: Researcher
Patrick Bigger, a US-based climate policy researcher, said the destruction of Gaza’s environment resulting from Israel’s war on the territory will take decades to recover, if ever.
“The social and environmental crisis in Gaza did not start on October 7. It has already been deteriorating quite a bit for the past 15 years. But the unprecedented bombardment of Gaza by [Israeli forces] has created some really serious environmental challenges that are going to take decades to unwind,” Bigger told Al Jazeera in an interview.
“The water situation is particularly dire,” Bigger said, noting that the eastern Mediterranean region has already been identified as a “climate change hotspot that was already having serious impacts on both the quality and availability of water”
Gaza’s water supply is now even further degraded “through the direct impacts of the bombardment” and the environment has been damaged by the “emergency responses that Gazans have had to take in order to just access whatever quantity of water that they can right now”.
“The pollution of untreated sewage off the coast of Gaza – these are really serious impacts that are difficult if not impossible to remediate,” he said.
Severe water shortage after Israeli forces destroyed all wells
Our colleagues on the ground in Gaza are reporting that crises are worsening in northern Gaza, including a lack of water as the Israeli forces have destroyed all wells, according to the Northern Gaza Emergency Committee.
Trucks loaded with water are now being brought in from Gaza City in an attempt to help people get some water. “I have no energy. I can’t carry the water. We came here with our children and grandchildren to get get a gallon of water which is not enough at all,” a Palestinian woman told Al Jazeera.
“We need more water for us only to drink. In the north, we have starvation and the severe shortage of drinking water. The water here is mixed with sewage, which poses a great danger to people’s health. We all suffer different kinds of diseases.”
A Palestinian man said that the situation in Jabalia refugee camp was very difficult. “We wait long time for the water truck to arrive and to get one gallon or one bucket of water just to drink. There is famine and we face starvation.”
