US President Joe Biden’s assignment of his country’s army to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary naval pier off the coast of the Gaza Strip has raised many questions about the goals and risks that can be read as the Israeli war on Gaza enters its sixth month.
According to Biden, the establishment of the temporary port aims to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip by sea, and to establish temporary shelters and floating hospitals to treat the war-wounded, stressing that there will be no American forces on the ground, a few days after the United States began dropping aid by air.
It is expected that the construction of the floating dock will take a period of up to two months to fully operate, according to the US Department of Defense, which said that the matter will require the help of a thousand American military personnel to complete it.
The American President stated that Israel would undertake the task of securing the temporary port, while Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said – from the shores of Gaza – that establishing this sea pier would contribute to “undermining the authority of Hamas.”
Seaway
In parallel, the European Commission, Cyprus, the UAE, the United States, and Britain announced in a joint statement their intention to launch a sea corridor to deliver additional amounts of aid to Gaza, indicating that it will complement the land and air routes that include Egypt and Jordan.
According to press reports, the corridor starts from southern Greek Cyprus, where aid ships dock and undergo careful inspection supervised by Israel, and then take a route towards the floating port, which is a platform in the Mediterranean Sea.
The exact location of the pier is not yet known, while estimates indicate that it will be built about 600 meters off the shores of Gaza, allowing cargo ships to approach it and then unload their cargo to be transported to Gaza via two bridges, each 550 meters long, amid conflicting news. About how to provide safe corridors for the distribution of aid after its delivery and the security of trucks and the parties that will distribute it.
CNN quoted a Qatari official as saying that they are investing $60 million in the sea corridor initiative, including transporting aid from the pier to shore and delivering it for distribution.
The United Nations had a strict stance towards these movements, as its Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhry, denounced the American plan regarding the floating port, describing it as a “malicious proposal,” indicating that countries usually use airdrops and sea piers only to deliver aid to “the United Nations.” Enemy territory.”
Political, legal, and security risks
Professor of Political Science at An-Najah University in Palestine, Dr. Hassan Ayoub, describes the American decision as very late, and that it will not change the equation of the starvation war that the Israeli occupation is waging against the Palestinian people in Gaza, adding that he accepts the Israeli conditions that are based on its control directly or through its allies over what may enter Relief, medical and other materials were sent to Gaza.
He points out that “Washington’s plan reflects moral bankruptcy after its immoral tendency towards the Palestinians in allowing the slaughter of Palestinians for 6 months and its resistance to all international attempts to curb the war of genocide against them,” noting that it “is now trying to purify itself of these crimes at a low price, which involves diligent efforts in Humiliating the Palestinians and turning them into beggars for life and relief.”
Controlling civilian lives
In turn, Palestinian writer and political analyst Ahmed Al-Haila says that Biden’s announcement is an electoral speech directed to segments of the American people who are angry at the performance of his administration, which is involved in the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip, by supplying the occupation army with weapons and political cover.
He points out that this position is also an attempt to whitewash his page and improve his image, “stained with the blood of thousands of children and defenseless civilians who were killed by the occupation with American weapons.”
The political analyst points out that the floating dock needs 60 days, which is a long period to confront the spread of the phenomenon of hunger and starvation among vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, the sick, and the injured, whose number exceeds 70,000.
It is not unlikely that the occupation will exploit the sea corridor, which it supervises for security, to deport Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip under humanitarian pretexts and under the pretext that Gaza is no longer fit for life after it was destroyed to force the Palestinians to emigrate.
The turn of the Rafah crossing
In turn, the expert in military and strategic affairs, Hisham Khreisat, said, “The floating dock appears on the surface to be aid, but on the surface is voluntary migration to Europe.”
Khreesat explained in an interview with Anadolu Agency that its initial cost is $35 million, and the draft depth of the ships at the dock will not be less than 17 meters to accommodate all aid ships.
The strategic expert considered that the idea of establishing the port is “not new,” but rather “a new, old topic that was raised 10 years ago,” stressing that Israel will now agree to it in order to pass the prisoner exchange deal and the ground attack on Rafah without angering Washington.
Khreisat believes that “Biden is very concerned about what will result from the Israeli army’s invasion of Rafah, and about not ending the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” pointing out that “the Rafah crossing will be out of service because Israel does not trust it, and considers it the main entrance for Hamas’ weapons.”
