The Economist magazine published a report on the American floating dock that the US Army built at a cost of $230 million off the coast of Gaza, asking: Is it useful or a failure?

 Its correspondent went to visit the sidewalk through Gaza, amidst the devastation and wasteland, where he passed through the Netzarim crossing, which cut the strip into two parts.

We should note here that the reporter may have gone with an Israeli unit, given the Israeli army’s closure of Gaza to the international press.

The report stated: “Along the road extending over six kilometers of desolate land, without any sign of civilian life, the Netzarim Crossing, as the Israelis call it, divides the narrow flank of Gaza from the “Israel border” to its shore on the Mediterranean Sea.

The buildings on both sides of the corridor were reduced to rubble. While the convoy in which the newspaper's correspondent traveled passed, no Palestinians appeared as far as the eye could see, only Israeli soldiers and military vehicles, and the sound of gravel under the wheels of the vehicles. Then came the dazzling blue, where the walkway ends in the sea and the huge steel pier, which the United States spent $230 million to install on the Gaza beach.

In March, when Joe Biden announced the construction of the floating dock, his speech seemed clear and direct: Gaza has a hunger problem, and it must be helped. The American solution had a buzzing sound: a floating dock that the American army would build, ship from half the globe, and collect its pieces in the Mediterranean. It will be, as the US President promised, a point that allows for a significant increase in aid.

The reality was more complex than the president imagined. The construction of the pier was completed on March 16, but the high waves quickly destroyed it, and it only worked for six weeks.

When the magazine visited the dock, on June 25, and its correspondent was the first to describe and see it from inside Gaza, he was working again.

He watched two cargo planes unload their cargo in about an hour. Trucks drove from the boats to the floating walkway, transporting bales into the collection area, a wide area of beach that the Israeli army had dredged and surrounded by sand berms and concrete barriers.

The US Department of Defense says that the dock has transported more than 6,200 metric tons of aid since its completion, which is the equivalent of 25-30 truckloads, but it is less than the 150 truckloads per day, as promised by America. But the dock is one piece of the operation, as supplies enter through Kerem Shalom crossing, which is considered the main commercial crossing in the south, and through three main crossings in the north.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed: “We are trying to create different places for entry, in order to reduce friction.”

In the spring, aid workers said things were improving, but that optimism was short-lived. In March, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, an organization that measures hunger levels, said hundreds of thousands of people in northern Gaza would face famine within two months. However, its latest study published on June 25 found that famine had been averted, albeit temporarily, due to increased supplies in March.

But the good news ends here, as the organization said that 495,000 (or about 25% of the population) face the risk of hunger, and that a majority suffer from food insecurity.

Half of Gaza's residents sold their clothes to buy food, and one in five spends days and nights without food.

The assembly area near the American floating dock has two gates, one on the western side near the sea for storing shipments, while the eastern gate is for Palestinian truck drivers transporting aid.

The IDF said nothing had entered or left these two gates over the past two weeks, or there were about 7,000 bales, mostly food, piled up in the assembly area. The magazine's correspondent saw a long line of trucks, all bearing the World Food Program logo, as food arrived in Gaza, but no one distributed it.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for the delay, as “the group attacked the pier and Kerem Shalom from time to time, obstructing aid shipments.”

“The distribution problem is difficult to overcome,” Hagari said, and “the international community must make more efforts.” But aid workers say the same thing about Israel. On June 25, the United Nations warned that it may suspend its operations in Gaza, unless the Israeli army cooperates and coordinates with it. Sending truck convoys to transport aid usually faces obstacles and delays, and is usually in areas without communications and close battles.

“We have to ask for a green light to move an empty truck, then get a green light to move it to a second point,” said Matthew Hollingworth, of the World Food Programme, “and you only get a 12-hour working hour.”

The magazine notes that many Palestinians are skeptical about the floating dock. On June 8, Israeli forces freed four hostages, and a videotape revealed that the participating soldiers were dropped off by a helicopter near the floating dock, and then evacuated from Gaza. The operation raised many theories, namely that the Americans built the pier for military purposes and not to transport aid.

In Kerem Shalom, where aid has been accumulating for weeks, Hollingworth likened the situation to a scene from the movie “Mad Max” or “Mad Max”: “Any truck that goes will lose its windshield, and people will try to get in.”

Much of this work is done by crime groups, which use utility trucks to smuggle the smoke (the price of which is $25 a can). No one provides security for the trucks, neither Israel nor Hamas.

The United Nations confirms that a sustainable truce is the only way to solve the humanitarian problem. This does not seem imminent. On June 23, the Israeli Prime Minister expressed readiness for a partial deal through which the prisoners held by Hamas would be released. Adding: “We are obligated to continue the war after it stops.”

The statements to a far-right network sparked anger in Israel, because he showed a willingness to give up some prisoners. It also angered officials in Washington, because President Biden approved a plan to stop the war permanently, but Netanyahu retracted his statements and said that he supports Biden’s plan.

His volatile statements are an image of him, especially since he has always hesitated to agree to a deal to free the prisoners, as most Israelis want, or to continue the war, as his allies on the extreme right want.

For its part, Hamas demands strong guarantees regarding any deal that it will end the war.

Like his floating dock, Biden's diplomatic plans are crumbling on the ground.