By Farrukh Abadi
The US announced its first shipments of “aid” for Palestinians have begun moving through its recently-constructed pier southwest of Gaza City on Friday. On Wednesday, Washington reported that their so-called aid had reached some Palestinians “who need it.”
The pier connects to the Israeli-constructed Netzarim Corridor, which Israel has engineered to bisect north and south Gaza to facilitate their military operations in the area.
In statements published on the news site Democracy Now!, displaced Palestinians in the Gaza refugee camp Nuseirat rejected the pier as a farce aimed to strengthen US and Israel positions:
Hassan Abu Al-Kass stated: “We don’t want ships. We want the border crossing to open for people to come and go. We want safety. We want official borders. Those planes, as well, that they bring here with the parachutes, and they throw food at us like dogs, like beggars, that does not work. It falls on houses. It falls on people. It brings us problems.”
Nadia Al-Debs stated: “We reject dealing with the ships and the American ships, because in the same way it gives us, it will take away from us. Maybe they want to take over the gas fields that are in the sea, or maybe they are here to displace the Palestinian people and to transfer people from one country to another.”
Hamas, among other resistance groups, have also denounced the pier as a false substitute and legitimization for the recent Israeli closure of land crossings that had been used to transport aid, as well as the presence of US troops, stating that the US is “trying to improve its ugly image.” The pier has involved the use of roughly 1000 US troops.
White House advisor John Kirby stated in reference to the pier that “the Israelis have been very supportive of this.”
Netanyahu originally took credit for the idea of the pier, which he claimed is aligned with the Israeli blockade of Gaza and will advance the collapse of Hamas.
The Pentagon’s claimed top delivery capacity for the pier—which it has not come close to reaching after a week of operation—is far short of aid deliverable through the blockaded land crossings.
While the pier was being constructed, Israel and the US dismantled the humanitarian system of Gaza. Without providing any evidence, Israel claimed that UNRWA—the main organization responsible for providing aid to the besieged people of Gaza before and during the current war—was infiltrated by or supporting Hamas, prompting the US and other imperialist countries to cut funding to the UN organization.
The United Nations’ World Food Program recently stated that the “threat of famine in Gaza never loomed larger.” Meanwhile, trucks full of food and medicine have piled up in Egypt at the border with Gaza, unable to cross the border closed by Israel.
