By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More than 60 service members were injured as a part of former President Joe Biden’s floating aid pier in Gaza, a Pentagon Inspector General report published on Tuesday said, a number significantly higher than had been previously disclosed.
The pier, announced by Biden during a televised address to Congress in March 2024, was a massive endeavor that took about 1,000 U.S. forces to execute.
But bad weather and distribution challenges inside Gaza limited the effectiveness of what the U.S. military says was its biggest aid delivery effort ever in the Middle East. The pier was only operational for about 20 days and cost about $230 million.
While there were no deaths or known direct attacks on the pier, the Pentagon had said three U.S. troops suffered non-combat injuries in support of the pier in May, with one medically evacuated in critical condition.
But the new report by the Pentagon Inspector General said that the number was actually 62.
“Based on the information provided, we were not able to determine which of these 62 injuries occurred during the performance of duties or resulted off duty or from pre-existing medical conditions,” the report said.
The pier became a sore point in Congress, where Republicans branded it a political stunt by Biden, who was under pressure from fellow Democrats to do more to aid Palestinians after months of staunchly supporting Israel’s punishing war on Hamas.
While it brought in sorely needed aid to a marshalling area on Gaza’s shore, the 1,200-foot-long (370-metre-long) floating pier had to be removed multiple times because of bad weather.
The Inspector General said that the U.S. military did not meet the standards for the equipment.
“Nor did they organize, train, and equip their forces to meet common joint standards,” the report said.
Challenges to aid delivery in Gaza persist.
The United Nations and Palestinian representatives at the International Court of Justice have accused Israel of breaking international law by refusing to let aid into Gaza, after Israel began on March 2 to cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Palestinian enclave.
Israel has defended its blockade against aid entering Gaza, alleging that Hamas steals supplies intended for the civilian population and distributes them to its own forces, an allegation that Hamas denies.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
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