(Breitbart) The Biden administration has publicly praised American troops who are part of the risky mission to deliver aid to Gaza via a temporary pier, but behind the scenes, sources tell Breitbart News that the troops’ safety is being endangered for a “photo-op.”
There are approximately 1,000 troops who are part of the novel operation to attach a floating pier to the coast of Gaza. The pier went operational on May 17, but eight days later on May 25, it broke apart due to heavy seas and had to be dismantled from the coast and repaired. It was reattached just last week.
Photo credit: U.S. source involved in the mission
Despite this, the Biden administration has insisted the pier operation has been a success.
“The operation was going successfully,” Deputy Defense Secretary Sabrina Singh said on May 30.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh speaks during a media briefing at the Pentagon on May 4, 2023, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)
But sources say behind the scenes, troops’ lives are being put at risk, sometimes for literal photo-ops.
One U.S. source involved in the mission said the pier has been targeted daily. “[There] absolutely has been gunfire and mortars. It’s all day and night nonstop,” the source said.
Smoke fills the air after a mortar was fired near the coast of the Gaza where the pier is attached. (Photo credit: U.S. source involved in the mission)
Indeed, due to the risk of sniper-fire, troops are ordered to wear tactical vests as far as five nautical miles out from the coast, and aid has to be rushed off the boats onto the temporary pier due to the “constant” attempts to attack the pier, according to the source.
Yet, minutes before the first boat filled with aid hit the pier, troops were ordered to roll up plastic covers on the trucks so that the aid could be photographed, the source said.
Today we began delivery of aid from the temporary pier on to the beach of Gaza for further distribution to the people by our partners. This unique logistics capability facilitates the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid enabling a shared service for the international… pic.twitter.com/nP0Ws7obzT
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 17, 2024
Troops were also ordered to wash the aid trucks and sweep flour off of them so that they look good in photos. The source said this happened twice — once for the first delivery of the operation, and again recently after the pier was reattached.
The Biden administration has also boasted about the amount of aid moved over the pier — a little more than 2,000 metric tons to date, or approximately 4.6 million pounds. But sources say moving that amount of aid has taken a toll on troops.
Two U.S. sources said commanders are ordering troops to work 12 to 48-hour shifts with very little sleep so that they can move more pallets, which has led to “many accidents,” including one service member being “crushed” by a forklift.
The first U.S. source said it was lack of sleep that led to the service member being run and crushed over by an unlicensed forklift driver during night operations.
Photo credit: U.S. source involved in the mission
Biden administration officials have revealed little about that injury, with Singh only saying that it was a “noncombat injury that happened on a ship that was away from the pier.” They recently acknowledged that the service member is in critical condition, and was recently moved along with his family from a hospital in Israel to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.
According to the U.S. source, the service member is “currently brain dead in a coma.” Breitbart News reached out to the 7th Transportation Brigade — Expeditionary to confirm the service member’s injuries and status, but did not receive a response.
The Pentagon has acknowledged two other service members being injured, calling them “minor” injuries.
However, the second U.S. source said troops are “being injured daily and not being taken off the mission.”
“Someone dislocated their shoulder [and is] still being forced to work,” the source said. “Others are getting injuries [and are] still just being ignored because they just want this mission to show as a ‘success.’ It’s a disaster.”
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