By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
Washington (Reuters) – More than 60 members of the service were injured as part of the floating assistance game by former president Joe Biden in Gaza, an inspector general report of the Pentagon published on Tuesday, said a number of people much higher than what had been revealed previously.
The pier, announced by Biden at a television address at the Congress in March 2024, was a massive company that took around 1,000 US forces to execute.
But bad weather and distribution challenges inside Gaza have limited the effectiveness of what the US military says it is its greatest effort to help in the Middle East. The pier was only operational for about 20 days and cost around $ 230 million.
Although there have been no known deaths or attacks on the pier, the Pentagon had declared that three American troops had undergone non -combat injuries in support of the pier in May, with a medically evacuated in critical condition.
But the new report by the Pentagon Inspector General said that the number was in fact 62.
“Based on the information provided, we have not been able to determine which of these 62 injuries occurred when exercising tasks or have led to pre -existing functions or medical conditions,” said the report.
The pier has become a painful point at the Congress, where the Republicans described this a political blow as Biden, who was under pressure from his democratic colleagues to do more to help the Palestinians after months to firmly support the punishing war of Israel against Hamas.
Although it has made a cruelly necessary aid to a gathering area on the shore of Gaza, the floating pier 1,200 feet long (370 meters long) had to be removed several times due to the bad weather.
The Inspector General said that the US military did not meet equipment standards.
“They also did not organize, trained and equipped their forces to meet common standards,” said the report.
The challenges to help delivery to Gaza persist.
The United Nations and the Palestinian representatives of the International Court of Justice accused Israel of having violated international law by refusing to leave aid to Gaza, after Israel began on March 2 to cut all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Palestinian enclave.
Israel defended its blockade against the aid entering Gaza, alleging that Hamas steals supplies intended for the civilian population and distributes them to its own forces, an allegation that Hamas denies.
(Report by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Edition by Saad Sayeed)
