Biden pushed Gaza pier over warnings it would undercut other aid routes, watchdog says

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ordered the construction of a temporary pier to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza this year even as some at the U.S. Agency for International Development expressed concerns that the effort would be difficult to accomplish and undercut the effort to persuade Israel to open “more efficient” land crossings to get food into the territory, according to the agency's internal watchdog.

Biden announced plans to use the temporary pier in his State of the Union address in March to hasten the delivery of aid to the Palestinian territory besieged by war between Israel and Hamas.

But the $230 million military-run project known as the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore system, or JLOTS, would only operate for about 20 days. Aid groups pulled out of the project by July, ending a mission plagued by repeated weather and security problems that limited how much food and other emergency supplies could get to starving Palestinians.

“Multiple USAID staff expressed concerns that the focus on using JLOTS would detract from the Agency’s advocacy for opening land crossings, which were seen as more efficient and proven methods of transporting aid into Gaza,” the inspector general said in a report published Tuesday. “However, once the President issued the directive, the Agency’s focus was to use JLOTS as effectively as possible.”