KUALA LUMPUR: The United States' plan for a temporary floating pier in Gaza to increase the flow of humanitarian aid is only a distraction from the real issue, said Doctors Without Borders.
Doctors Without Borders or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) US executive director Avril Benoît said in a statement that the planned pier does not address the real problem, which he said is a "political problem" and a "punishing siege" on Gaza.
"The US plan for a temporary pier in Gaza to increase the flow of humanitarian aid is a glaring distraction from the real problem: Israel's indiscriminate and disproportionate military campaign and punishing siege.
"The food, water, and medical supplies so desperately needed by people in Gaza are sitting just across the border. Israel needs to facilitate rather than block the flow of supplies. This is not a logistics problem; it is a political problem," the statement read.
Benoît added that rather than looking to the US military to build a work-around, the US should insist on immediate humanitarian access using the roads and entry points that already exist.
He added that in previous months, the US had vetoed three United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire, which he said, is the only way to ensure a real scale up in emergency assistance.
"We reiterate our call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire to stop the killing of thousands of more civilians and allow for the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid," the statement ended.
On March 7, US President Joe Biden announced plans for the US military to build a temporary pier on the coast of Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea in order to help deliver humanitarian aid.
The US also issued a joint statement with the European Commission, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom announcing the activation of a "maritime corridor" to support humanitarian assistance.
The move comes as warnings that Gaza is close to a famine grow louder and aid agencies report continuing difficulties in distributing supplies as fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas intensifies.
Over a quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million people are said to be experiencing famine-like conditions and 1 in 6 children under the age of two in the northern governorates are acutely malnourished.
A seaport would open a new route for aid, which is currently limited to two land border crossings in south Gaza. The UN has reportedly pressed Israel to open a third crossing in the north of Gaza, but they are yet to agree.