A video shared widely by Hebrew Telegram channels on 8 June shows that the Israeli army made use of the U.S.-built pier installed in central Gaza as part of a bloody rescue operation that saw the killing of at least 210 Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
قلنا سابقاً أن اهداف الميناء العائم هي عسكرية — وليست "إنسانية" كما تدعي الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية.
تم استخدام الرصيف العسكري اليوم لنقل اسرى الاحتلال الأربعة الذين تم تحريرهم من وسط قطاع غزة — بعد ارتكاب قوات الاحتلال مجزرة كبيرة— عبر طائرة مروحية… pic.twitter.com/2qcAs9lWHR
— الحـكـيم (@Hakeam_ps) June 8, 2024
Furthermore, according to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, a special U.S. military unit specialized in rescuing captives “supported the effort” that decimated the Nuseirat camp.
BREAKING: A U.S. official told me that the U.S. hostages cell in Israel supported the effort to rescue the four hostages https://t.co/o4P7ECMOiC
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) June 8, 2024
Multiple Israeli media outlets reported on Saturday afternoon that a special forces unit penetrated deep into the Nuseirat camp to recover four living captives amid heavy bombing by Israeli warplanes.
They were then flown out of Gaza via the U.S.-built pier, which had been reinstalled on the coast on Friday after undergoing tens of millions in repairs.
On Saturday, the Israeli army announced that it has started “securing the coastal area of the U.S. military’s Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) pier in Gaza.”
Upon announcing the project earlier this year, Washington stated that the floating pier was built to serve as a “maritime corridor” to deliver desperately needed aid into Gaza.
“I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier on the Gaza coast in the Mediterranean. This pier will facilitate the arrival of large ships loaded with food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters,” U.S. President Joe Biden said earlier this year when announcing plans for the pier, purportedly to make up for an Israeli blockade of all land crossings into the besieged enclave.
Nevertheless, the Palestinian resistance repeatedly warned that the floating pier was built to deliver weapons to Israel.
“The pier is intended to provide cover for Washington’s support for the occupation state with weapons… International and regional talk about introducing aid has had no real impact on the famine in the strip,” Hamas said last month.
The Cradle columnist Suat Delgen recently questioned whether the U.S.-built pier is meant to serve as a “smokescreen for political maneuvers.”
The suspicion is that the project, while ostensibly ‘facilitating’ aid delivery, might also allow for increased control over the entirety of Gaza under the guise of humanitarian assistance. This control could potentially streamline Israel’s military operations and fortify its strategic positions within Gaza, ultimately influencing the broader geopolitical dynamics of the conflict.