Democrats Join Republicans In Wanting More Answers On Biden’s Gaza Pier

Starving civilians rushing the causeway. Israeli shells hitting American soldiers. Hamas terrorists firing on U.S. military boats.

These are the potential scenarios U.S. officials are grappling with after President Joe Biden ordered the military to build a pier to help deliver aid to Gaza.

And lawmakers from both parties have questions about how the mission will actually work, from ensuring the safety of the service members constructing the pier, to safely distributing the aid once it arrives. The situation has left many wondering whether the president is sending U.S. military personnel into harm’s way without a firm plan to protect them — and whether the expensive, potentially dangerous venture is even necessary.

The questions hang over the operation even as five U.S. Army vessels set sail for Gaza from the east coast this week. Top Democrats, including Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.), Senate Foreign Relations Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), the lead appropriator for State and a Biden ally, have called for briefings.

“I’m trying to get more details about the concept of operations,” Coons said. “In particular, one of my concerns is security for this operation. Because if the U.S. military is seen to be building and operating it, I think it puts it at greater risk.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a senior Armed Services member, said he has “very serious questions about how the construction will be done, with the assurance of safety to our troops.” But he added: “I'm convinced that this kind of humanitarian effort is absolutely necessary.”

Republicans have criticized the move. House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), after he was briefed at the Pentagon Wednesday, said he was not clear how it would all work and whether the pier will be there in time to make a difference. The Pentagon says it estimates the pier won’t be operational for up to 60 days.

He also wants to know whether Israeli forces would offer security for aid distribution.

“I’ve been briefed on what they’re doing, but the things nobody can answer are who’s going to provide the security, who’s going to provide the drivers, and who’s going to load and unload stuff?” Rogers said.

Rogers argued Biden’s announcement was a hastily conceived political move to mollify Democrats upset at the handling of the Israel-Hamas war. In swing state Michigan’s primary last month, more than 100,000 Democrats voted “uncommitted” to protest Biden.

“I hate to say it, but I think this decision was politically driven by the president after Michigan,” Rogers said. “And he's trying to be forward-leaning to try to do something to help the folks in Gaza from a humanitarian standpoint, but this is moving really fast and nobody can explain how it's gonna work.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has been leading pressure on Biden to secure more aid for Gaza, called Rogers’ allegation that the pier is politically motivated “absurd.”

“This is about trying to feed starving people through all means possible. Again, the president has stressed that this cannot be a substitute for the Netanyahu government lifting restrictions on access to humanitarian aid,” he said.

The proposal is a complicated one: A team of U.S. military personnel will spend the next 60 days sailing across the ocean and constructing a floating pier 3 to 5 miles from the shore, as well as a 1,800-foot floating causeway in the shape of a trident, which will be anchored to the beach.

Once the infrastructure is built, larger vessels will be able to offload aid onto the pier, where it will next be transported by small U.S. boats, called logistics support vessels, to the causeway. There, it will be moved to trucks that will distribute it into Gaza.

U.S. military personnel are already on their way to the enclave. Five U.S. Army vessels, loaded with tons of equipment and steel pier segments, left Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, this week on a voyage that could take several weeks. The Pentagon estimates the mission could deliver more than 2 million meals for Gaza residents.

But the administration is still figuring out several critical pieces of the puzzle, including who will provide security for the U.S. military forces, and who will distribute the aid. Officials don’t even have a plan in place to anchor the causeway to the shore: That work can’t be done by U.S. military personnel, as Biden has vowed not to put U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza.

One U.S. official acknowledged that the approach is far from ideal. The Biden administration is doing “everything we can” to increase the volume of aid flowing into Gaza by land. But “that’s clearly not enough,” said the official, who like others, was granted anonymity to speak candidly about developing plans.

“It is so clear that the humanitarian situation has become so bad and so dire that much more is needed,” the official said, noting that “once the pier is constructed, we will be able to transport a lot more volume.”

The official also acknowledged that some details had not yet been worked out, but noted there’s still time for those discussions to take place. The Pentagon estimates it will be as many as 60 days before the pier is operational.

Still, “there are very good reasons why we didn’t do it earlier,” the official said.

In response to questions on Thursday about security and aid distribution, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters that the Pentagon is "still working through that.”

“We are in, of course, communication with the [Israel Defense Forces], with other partners in the region on what aid distribution would look like, what security around this floating pier would look like. I don't have an update for you at this time just yet,” she said.

U.S. officials across the government are having conversations with international partners, including the Israelis and third parties that deal directly with Hamas, to answer the questions raised by lawmakers, a DOD official said.

The U.S. government is trying to mitigate the “risk” to military personnel by working to establish “some type of buffer so the environment is semi-permissive,” the official said.

“Yes, there are risks with trying to deliver humanitarian aid in a war zone,” the official said, adding that DOD was not caught off guard by the request, as some lawmakers have accused. “This has been looked at, there was a plan constructed for months … this is what we do.”

Still, some officials say recent events make the pier redundant. The idea first started as “a workaround to the fact that Israel won’t let us truck anything in,” said a second DOD official. But in recent days, Morocco has opened up a land route to deliver aid to Gaza. The pier now seems unnecessary, the official said.

“So if [Morocco's] going to start rolling trucks in today or tomorrow, like very immediately, then why are we even building this pier?"

In addition, a ship loaded with 200 tons of food already departed Cyprus on Tuesday headed for Gaza, as a test of a planned maritime corridor to provide aid to the enclave. The U.S.-based charity World Central Kitchen is reportedly building a landing jetty in Gaza with material from destroyed buildings and other rubble to offload the aid. The ship is set to arrive in the next few days.

However, Democratic lawmakers defended the administration. Senate Armed Services Seapower Chair Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he met Wednesday with U.S. Transportation Command’s Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost and asked about force protection measures.

“I think they have a good plan in place — and they're continuing to develop the plan,” he said.

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), the ranking Democrat on HASC’s Seapower panel, said he also met with Van Ovost. Courtney said the sea route is “not the preferable” avenue, but the need to get humanitarian relief to Gaza dictates the step.

"It sounds like they've got a pretty good plan in terms of who's going to actually man this operation that's not going to literally get boots on the ground in Israel,” Courtney said.

Democrats have largely said the effort is the right move, as they’re increasingly frustrated by the civilian and humanitarian toll of the war.

"I think it's a good idea,” said House Armed Services ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.). “I agree with [the push to] try to get humanitarian assistance in any way they can. Obviously there's still a lot of details to be worked out."

Joseph Gedeon and Connor O’Brien contributed to this report.