Palestinians criticize U.S-backed pier construction in Gaza as ‘occupation port’

Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtayeh questions the logic behind building a port on Gaza’s coast using rubble filled with the remains of martyrs, dubbing it a pier reeking of death

Palestinians describe the pier, currently under construction on the coast of Gaza City by the United States to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip via sea, as an “occupation port.”

U.S. President Joe Biden announced on March 7 that he had tasked his military with building a temporary port on the shore for the entry of aid to Gaza.

The U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) also stated that the construction of the temporary port to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza shore could take up to 60 days, after which 2 million meals per day would be provided to Gaza.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting, questioned the logic behind constructing a port on the Gaza coast using the remains of demolished buildings filled with the bodies of martyrs, calling it nothing more than “a pier reeking of death.”

Efforts to remove the rubble of bombed houses and retrieve the bodies of those killed and injured because of Israeli attacks over the past six months have been fruitless.

Thousands missing, bodies trapped under rubble amid Gaza port construction

In recent weeks, with U.S. support, numerous bulldozers and trucks from Israel have been entering the Gaza border, transporting thousands of tons of rubble, including body parts, from the demolished houses by Israel to be used in the construction of the new sea pier.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk stated in a report last week on the situation in Palestinian territories that thousands of people were missing after Israeli attacks on Gaza and that most of these missing persons were still under the rubble of destroyed houses.

Palestinian eyewitnesses who had to migrate south along Rashid Street, extending along the coast from Gaza City, reported seeing dozens of trucks carrying rubble from houses bombed by Israel to the new port area.

Witnesses said there were still bodies in the rubble piles because of the impossibility of removal in the area and that the rubble transported for the construction of the new port was mixed with the blood and body parts of their relatives killed in Israeli massacres.

‘U.S. and Israel were not honest’

Palestinian engineer Fathi Riyadh said that hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble were needed for the pier’s construction, which means collecting rubble from the entire city of Gaza closest to the new port.

Riyadh also emphasized the need for numerous trucks and bulldozers to transport tons of rubble, stating that dozens of large vehicles had entered Gaza in the past few weeks and started transporting rubble for the new port’s construction.

“The U.S. and Israel claim to be humanitarian in building a new port on the Gaza coast, but in reality, they are far from humanitarian,” Palestinian political analyst Usama Abdulhadi said.

Abdulhadi stated that the U.S. and Israel were not honest about this matter.

“If they were honest, the trucks and giant bulldozers entering Gaza to build the port would have intervened to rescue the thousands of injured still dying from blood loss under the rubble of homes destroyed by the occupying state (Israel),” he added.

Abdulhadi pointed out the suspicious nature of Israel’s welcoming of the establishment of the port and the activation of the sea corridor, saying: “This port will be built to strengthen Israel’s sovereignty on the coast, render the Rafah Border Crossing obsolete, terminate Palestinian sovereignty, and encourage the people of Gaza to migrate.”

‘This is an occupation port and allows the entry of the U.S. military into Gaza’s borders’

Abdulhadi stated Israel had besieged Gaza, closed border crossings, and blocked humanitarian aid.

“It is unreasonable for Israel to take this step without obtaining a hidden interest. It appears this situation is related to encouraging the departure of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip,” he added.

Abdulhadi emphasized that the U.S. and Israel aimed to control part of the Gaza coast under the pretext of protecting the port, facilitating humanitarian aid and preventing Hamas from controlling it. 

“This port was a means to tighten the siege on Palestinians, and the U.S. would not even allow the presence of Hamas, institutions, or even local Palestinian institutions in the operating mechanism of the port so that the port would work according to Israel’s desire,” he said.

“This is an occupation port and allows the entry of the U.S. military into Gaza’s borders,” Abdulhadi concluded. 

UN views the U.S.’s proposal as ‘malicious’

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri condemned the U.S.’s proposal to build a port in the Gaza Strip on March 8.

“This is the first time I’ve heard someone say we must use the port. Neither the Palestinian people nor the international community requested a port,” Fakhri said.

He described the U.S.’s proposal as “malicious” and drew attention to the fact that the U.S. also provided bombs, ammunition and financial support to Israel.

“The port could facilitate the departure of Palestinians from Gaza. Other than whether other countries will accept them, there are no obstacles to the departure of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a special meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee last week.

Source: Newsroom

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