Why We Did This Evaluation
On October 7, 2023, Hamas—a U.S.-designated terrorist organization—invaded southwest Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages. In response, Israel declared war on Hamas the next day and announced a total blockade on Gaza that cut off food, medicine, and other supplies to more than 2 million residents in Gaza. Since the beginning of the war, nearly 40,000 Gazans have been killed and about 96 percent of the population faces severe food insecurity and a high risk of famine.
Immediately after the October 7 attack, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance worked with the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza through land crossings in Israel and Egypt. In March 2024, President Biden directed the Department of Defense to establish a temporary maritime corridor to deliver aid to the Gaza coast to supplement land-based humanitarian aid operations. The Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) modular system would transport aid from Cyprus via a series of vessels, a floating platform, and a temporary pier affixed to the beach. USAID requested Department of Defense support through JLOTS for about 90 days, with a goal of feeding or assisting 500,000 people each month. Costing an estimated $230 million, JLOTS construction was completed on May 16, 2024.
We initiated this review given the critical humanitarian need and the large U.S. investment in the JLOTS system. Our objectives were to assess USAID’s (1) planning and execution and (2) oversight of the distribution of humanitarian assistance through the JLOTS maritime corridor.
What We Found
External factors impaired USAID’s efforts to distribute humanitarian assistance to Gaza through JLOTS. The Department of Defense and Israel Defense Forces operational and security requirements took precedence in the planning to use JLOTS for the humanitarian response. Accordingly, USAID and WFP adjusted their plans to work within these security requirements. Multiple USAID staff expressed concerns that the focus on using JLOTS would detract from the Agency’s advocacy for opening land crossings, which were seen as more efficient and proven methods of transporting aid into Gaza. However, once the President issued the directive, the Agency’s focus was to use JLOTS as effectively as possible.
Due to structural damage caused by rough weather and high seas, the pier operated for only 20 days and was decommissioned on July 17. Additionally, security and access challenges plagued aid distributions once on shore. As a result, USAID fell short of its goal of supplying aid to 500,000 or more Palestinians each month for 3 months and instead delivered enough aid to feed 450,000 for 1 month.
USAID relied on existing controls to oversee the distribution of humanitarian assistance through JLOTS. Although JLOTS was a new method for USAID to deliver aid into Gaza, the Agency relied on its existing controls of risk assessments and monitoring to provide oversight of aid distribution with USAID and WFP documenting risks as required. While unable to directly monitor distribution activities in Gaza, the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance received incident reports and updates from WFP that aligned with internal guidance for monitoring implementing organizations in nonpermissive environments such as Gaza.
Based on our findings and the decommissioning of JLOTS, we are not making any recommendations at the present time.