President Joe Biden’s plan to build a floating pier off the Gaza Strip to facilitate humanitarian aid is estimated to cost at least $180 million, ABC News reported Tuesday.
Two people familiar with the estimate told ABC News that the total cost could exceed $200 million. (RELATED: IDF Bombs Hamas Rocket Launch Posts In Humanitarian Zone)
Pres. Biden’s plan to build a humanitarian pier floating off the coast of Gaza that could enable delivery of food, water and medicine into the region is expected to cost at least $180 million, @ABC News has learned. https://t.co/rWyC3E17wb
— ABC News (@ABC) April 9, 2024
Officials are still concerned about providing security to the pier as it will be operating close to areas where Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, is believed to still be present, ABC News reported.
“Still no [plans for US] boots on the ground. That is the policy that has been set by the president. We will not have boots on the ground when it comes to setting up this pier,” Deputy Defense Secretary Sabrina Singh said, the outlet noted.
Some have criticized the security of the port.
“I think the administration is looking for a way to look like they’re increasing aid to Gaza, in some sense to placate their own domestic constituencies,” Michael DiMino, a fellow at the Defense Priorities think tank and former intelligence officer, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It’s a terrible idea.”
The floating port is expected to be completed in early May and will be able to bring in some 2 million meals a day.
The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), an Israeli governmental agency responsible for coordinating and facilitating aid to the Gaza Strip, noted Wednesday that in the past three days alone Israel had allowed “over 1,200 trucks” to enter the Gaza Strip and that “500 trucks worth lying on the Gaza side of KS [the Kerem Shalom crossing]” were still “waiting to be picked up by UN agencies. ”
Israel is surging aid into Gaza, with over 1200 trucks entering in 3 days (avg 400/day).
Right now, 500 trucks worth lying on the Gaza side of KS waiting to be picked up by UN agencies. @UN, Do your job, focus on distribution, and stop blaming Israel for your colossal failures. pic.twitter.com/jASu1t3sro— COGAT (@cogatonline) April 10, 2024
Various international organizations, like the World Health Organization, expressed their concern back in January that the fighting that started in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ invasion of southern Israel on Oct 7. was creating a “risk of famine” and that basic necessity problems were “particularly severe in the northern areas.”