(ConservativeInsider.org) – On June 27, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Offices of Inspector General (OIG) and the Department of Defense opened an investigation into the Gaza aid pier constructed by the Biden administration.
There have been problems with the $320 million floating pier, designed to deliver humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza, since it opened in mid-May. The U.S. military was forced to quickly construct the pier after President Joe Biden publicly announced the construction of the floating pier in May, just days after he informed the Pentagon. Since then, the pier has been closed multiple times due to logistical and operational issues, many of which are caused by weather and lead to delays in the humanitarian aid reaching the people of Gaza. Just after the pier opened, rough weather caused damage to the floating pier that needed immediate repair. Bad weather and rough seas in the region have often caused the floating pier to close.
While the pier was intended to help get aid into Gaza, much of the food is still sitting in the adjacent storage yard because humanitarian aid agencies have been unable to move the food to areas into Gaza as the humanitarian convoys have been attacked.
The United Nations chief agency in charge of Gaza humanitarian aid distribution announced it was ceasing to deliver aid to the pier in early June. U.S. officials have reportedly told Gaza humanitarian aid organizations that the floating pier would soon be closed and will not reopen before September.
Department of Defense Inspector General spokesperson Mollie Halpern stated that the investigation was launched because of the “significant public interest in this topic.” She added that the agencies would conduct the investigations independently, but the agencies would also collaborate because the agencies are “involved in a shared mission.”
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Simone Ledeen has said that building the pier was “a huge waste of human and financial resources.”
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