An ominous U.S. escalation of 1,000 U.S. troops to Gaza is cloaked in the phony guise of a humanitarian mission. The statements from the Palestinian Resistance, published below this introduction, explain the political danger.

Here is some background: The militarized floating dock, rammed into the coast of Gaza, is a plan proposed by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to President Joe Biden on Oct. 22, 2023. (See this)

The Trident Pier was then publicly announced with great media fanfare at Biden’s State of the Union address on March 7, 2024. Israel “fully supports” the creation of such a facility, an Israeli official immediately told Reuters. (See this)

The giant dock and causeway, one-third of a mile long (550 meters), was built by U.S. military engineers andassembled by the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, with final assembly by the Israeli military in the Israeli port of Ashdod. 

The minimal amount of aid must be loaded and unloaded five times before distribution. Every pallet is inspected by the U.S. forces and Israeli forces.

Aid groups have criticized the pier as a costly and ineffective distraction. It is designed to deflect attention from Israel’s blockade of all land deliveries. According to the Egyptian Red Crescent, 1,574 trucks were stuck in Al Arish, Egypt, blocked from entering Rafah with critically needed food. 

Although a minimum of 500 trucks a day are needed to avoid famine, this pier would initially only handle 90 trucks a day and stop in bad weather, high waves and rough seas. Who is responsible for actually delivering the aid is also unclear based on past Israeli attacks on aid distributions. (See this)

The plan has aroused suspicion because the U.S. has long used Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore piers to land troops and equipment in areas where the U.S. military has no access to a fixed pier.

The pier, built at a cost of $320 million, is part of the enormous $26 billion in additional aid to Israel that Biden recently approved as part of the supplemental aid package. That package was a public statement of complete support for genocide in Gaza. 

Committing 1,000 U.S. troops confirms the U.S. determination to escalate the brutal aggression against the Palestinian people.

The following statements were issued on May 18, 2024, on the Resistance News Network Telegram thread.  

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Gaza Government Media Office

The floating water dock off the coast of Gaza does not meet the needs of our Palestinian people for food. We demand the opening of land crossings and the immediate and urgent entry of aid and goods through them.

The U.S. administration is trying to beautify its ugly face and appear civilized by establishing a floating water dock off the coast of Gaza City, claiming its purpose is to deliver humanitarian aid and food to our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, who are subjected to policies of starvation, forced displacement, and genocide carried out by the “israeli” occupation army with active participation, full involvement, and real endorsement from the U.S. administration. 

Since the start of this genocidal war, the U.S. has continued to supply the occupation with over 200,000 rockets and bombs, some carrying 2,000 pounds of explosives, used by the occupation to annihilate entire residential neighborhoods. This has resulted in over 35,000 martyrs, more than 79,000 wounded, and 10,000 missing. 

We question the intentions of the U.S. administration, which is managing and perpetuating the genocide war, forming a protective wall for the “israeli” occupation, and continuing its absolute support for the war against civilians. 

The U.S. administration has opposed the cessation of this war against civilians, children, and women, against the housing sector, infrastructure, and humanitarian services sectors in the [United Nations] Security Council multiple times. Additionally, it has not exerted real pressure on the occupation to open the crossings and allow aid to enter, but has instead been an obstacle to any solutions for the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. The floating water dock does not meet the food needs of our Palestinian people. 

Amidst the policy of starving 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip, including 2 million displaced persons who live on daily aid and require more than seven million meals daily, what it will provide will not break the famine or cover this immense need for our people in the Gaza Strip. Instead, it will give the occupation a chance to prolong this war that has consumed everything. 

We demand the immediate and urgent opening of the land crossings and the entry of various aids and fuel through them. We also express our deep astonishment at the introduction of patchwork and partial solutions, circumventing real solutions to the deep humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip that continues to affect civilians with all harshness. 

We hold the “israeli” occupation and the U.S. administration fully responsible for the deliberate and premeditated policy of starvation and blockade against our defenseless Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. 

We also hold them responsible for the continuation of the genocide war and the commission of crimes against humanity, international law, and global human rights principles. 

We call on all free countries of the world and all international and UN organizations to exert real and effective pressure on the occupation and the U.S. administration to stop the genocide war, end the ongoing aggression against the Gaza Strip, and halt the supply of deadly weapons from the occupation’s allies aimed at killing civilians, children, and women.

The Central Media Department for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine reaffirms: The Floating Port is a source of concern and warns of underlying plans, asserting that the presence of U.S. and other forces is an occupation force.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine reiterates its concern about the establishment of a floating port by the U.S. administration on the coasts of the Gaza Strip, warning of the risks of using it to implement other objectives and plans such as displacement or protecting the occupation rather than transporting aid.

The Front also warns any Palestinian, Arab, or international parties against aligning with the U.S. administration or working at this port, emphasizing the need to open all crossings in the Gaza Strip, including the Rafah land crossing, as an alternative to this port to ensure the flow of aid into the Strip without restrictions or conditions.

The Front stresses that the Rafah land crossing is a purely Palestinian-Egyptian sovereign crossing and that its management mechanism is determined by the Palestinian side in agreement with the Egyptian side, away from the control or intervention of the occupation.

The Front reaffirms its position against any U.S., Zionist, or any foreign presence in the Gaza Strip, whether at the Rafah crossing or any place on the land or coasts of the Strip, asserting that it and the resistance will continue to treat these forces as an occupying force.

[These statements were lightly edited.]

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Sara Flounders is an American political writer active in progressive and anti-war organizing since the 1960s. She is a Contributing Editor of the Marxist Workers World newspaper as well as a principal leader of the International Action Center. Sara also works actively with the SanctionsKill Campaign and United National Antiwar Coalition. Sara can be reached at [email protected].

She is a regular contributor to Global Research. 

Featured image: Egyptian protesters demand an end to ties with Israel, Cairo, May 20, 2024. (Source: Sara Flounders)