Biden’s administration publicly praised American soldiers who were part of a risky mission delivering aid to Gaza by way of a temporary pier. But behind the scenes, sources told Breitbart that the safety was being compromised for a “photo op.”
Around 1,000 soldiers are involved in the innovative operation to attach a floating pier to Gaza’s coast. The pier was operational on 17 May, but eight days later, on 25 May it fell apart because of heavy seas. It had to be removed from the coast to be repaired. The pier was only reattached last week.
The Biden administration insists that the pier operation was a success despite this.
Sabrina Singh, Deputy Secretary of Defense, said that the operation was proceeding successfully on May 30,
Sources say that behind the scenes, soldiers’ lives are put in danger, sometimes literally, for photo-ops.
A U.S. source who was involved in the mission stated that the pier had been attacked daily. “[There] has been gunfire and shelling. The source stated that the gunfire and mortars were continuous throughout the day.
According to a source, the threat of sniper fire is so high that troops are required to wear tactical vests up to five nautical miles from the coast. Aid must also be rushed onto the temporary pier because “constant” attacks on the pier have been reported.
Source: Minutes before the first boat with aid arrived at the pier, the troops were told to cover the trucks in plastic so they could photograph the aid.
The troops were also instructed to clean the aid trucks and remove flour from them for them to look good in photos. Sources said that this occurred twice – once during the first delivery and then again after the pier had been reattached.
Biden’s administration boasted of the amount of aid that has been moved across the pier – a little over 2,000 metric tonnes to date or about 4.6 million pounds. Sources say that moving this amount of aid took a toll.
Two U.S.-based sources claim that commanders have ordered troops to work 12-48 hour shifts without much sleep to move more pallets. This has caused “many accidents,” with one service member “crushed” under a forklift.
According to the first U.S. sources, it was lack of sleep that caused the service member to be run over and crushed by an unlicensed driver of a forklift during night operations.
Biden administration officials revealed very little about the injury. Singh said that it was “a noncombat injury which happened on a vessel that was away from the pier.” Recently, they acknowledged that the member of the military is in critical health and that he was moved with his family to Brooke Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, Texas, from a hospital located in Israel.
Breitbart News contacted the 7th Transportation Brigade – Expeditionary for confirmation of the injuries and condition of the service member but received no response.
Pentagon acknowledges two more service members injured and calls them minor injuries
The second U.S. official said that troops “are being injured daily, but are not being removed from the mission.”
The source stated that “someone has dislocated his shoulder and is still forced to work.” “Others get injured [and] are still ignored because they want to make this mission look like a success.”
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Sources also said that troops only get “barely two meals” a week, with some receiving just one meal, which is cucumber sandwiches. According to the first U.S. official, this is due to “chow hour” not matching up with shift hours and certain locations where troops work do not provide meals for them.
According to sources, troops have also been unable for days to take a shower or do their laundry.
“I feel that the priorities of [command sergeant-major] and the brigade commanders are not right.” The first U.S. official said, “I don’t really care how we can push aid safely. I just want to push it whatever you need to do.”
The report also stated that some sailors who were attached to Army vessels and who were offloading assistance at a pier in Israel were forced to stay at the pier due to bad weather. They were then forced to sleep in tents.
According to one source, the breaking apart of the pier could have been prevented if the commanders had listened to the warnings from the troops.
The source stated that “Army Marines and Warrant officers who are familiar with the Army’s watercraft field, and the capabilities of their equipment, warned the field grade and general officers before bad weather hit and advised them to move to a safe place where they could use the boats and Trident Pier,” days before it got bad.
The source stated that “the brigade commander, and those above him, shut it down. Less than 18 hours after, the damage was done to the Trident Pier, with vessels being beached and sinking, and another vessel sitting on the ocean floor, resulting in millions of taxpayer dollars wasted and aid halted.”
The mission is not changing its current operation, despite the fact that the weather has been a constant concern.
Singh, the deputy Pentagon Press Secretary, recently said:
JLOTS will continue to function as usual. We will continue to monitor the weather. The commander may decide to remove the temporary pier if he feels there will be another storm.
The deputy Central Command Commander has said that the workload will only increase over the next few days.
Last week, Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper spoke to reporters:
We are moving forward with urgency. We’re enabling a new crossing into Gaza. We want to take advantage of this opportunity to get aid to people as soon as possible. Our initial goal is to send 500,000 pounds of aid over the beach. We will then finish this project shortly thereafter. So, a million pounds every two days. We’re moving quickly and working with our partners.
Sources claim that despite these dangerous conditions, troops are denied hazardous duty pay.
Sources also claim that families are not informed when the troops will return from their dangerous mission. The mission was announced by President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address, and the troops were sent out for the mission around mid-March. Sources say that families were initially told that troops would return home by May but now are told to expect them back at the end of July or June.
The Biden administration yesterday tried to hide behind the troops and argue that the Gaza pier was not a “failure” because they gave up time with their families to work on it and be part of a humanitarian mission.
From the deputy Pentagon press secretary: pic.twitter.com/3UzGYQcRHY
— Kristina Wong 🇺🇸 (@kristina_wong) May 29, 2024
Sources also have suspicions about the Biden administration’s pier plan and the length of time they kept the families in the dark. Sources claim that although the aid was packaged as early as December, the troops weren’t informed about the mission until two days before Biden’s speech on 7 March.
The Biden administration tried to protect itself from criticism, pointing out that the troops sacrificed their time with family for the mission. This included Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Singh stated at a May 28 press conference:
I must push back against the idea that this is a failure, because, in the end, some men and women have been separated from their family…who put others first to try to take part in a humanitarian mission to save lives…
The second U.S. official said: “I can assure you that not one service member is happy to be there.” Mother’s Day and Father’s Day were missed for this sham operation.
A military spouse started a petition on Change.org recently to ask Biden’s administration to bring home the troops. It stated:
As the family member of a military member who is currently on active duty in Gaza, I am deeply worried about our troops’ well-being. They have been in Gaza since 21st March. Families must watch the news to see what is happening, but there are no clear instructions about when their loved ones can return home. Families are kept in the dark about their loved one’s return.
Addendum:
There is no end to the failures of this pier.
The government forces this operation despite knowing that it has failed.
Forcing them to work 24-hour shifts with little sleep, and eating very little to recover. They are forced to make mistakes, and even injure themselves.
The injuries of the children are ignored, and no answer is given to questions about their return.
The government uses this as a campaign to rob all Americans of [$230] million dollars, according to the latest estimate.
These uncertain times and the lack of support are not acceptable to our brave active duty soldiers. It’s time for them to return safely home and be reunited with their families. Please sign this petition in order to encourage our leaders to act immediately and bring back our troops from Gaza.
Biden’s administration suggested recently that the mission had no set end date. Singh responded that the cost of the mission was dependent on the length of the mission and future costs.
Last week, she stated that the cost of the mission could vary depending on its length and future costs.
Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, retired from the Israeli Defense Force, told Breitbart News in an interview on Monday that there are much easier ways to transfer aid to Gaza. In an interview with Breitbart News on Monday, Gen. Amir Avivi said that there were easier ways to send aid to Gaza and that the operation had been a photo op.
It’s much easier to bring it to Ashdod, load it on trucks, and then transfer it to Gaza. He said that there was no reason for this pier.
“I can only think of one reason, and that is because it’s so visual. “I think that it is to show ‘Look we’re trying to bring about a solution’,” he said.
Avivi predicted that there would also be more attacks at the Pier.
There have been fears that the pier will become a more dangerous target after Palestinian media outlets reported the use of the pier in an Israeli rescue operation.
