The expensive US pier, meant to provide a way to land aid from ships,has been mostly a failure. As of June 23, it had been physicallyfunctional for 12 days out of the 37 days it had been in place. This is because the waves on the Gaza coast have been higher thannormal, and the designers did not allow enough safety margin for it.

On most of those 12 days when the pier itself was usable, there was notransport to take the aid to the starving civilians.

The rules of war say that attacking a military target with somecivilians nearby must satisfy the criterion of "proportionality". Ifthere are a few HAMAS cops near an aid convoy, who are there to keepsecurity for the convoy, attacking them and endangering the morenumerous] civilians handling the aid (and this ought to count thosewhose lives depend on its arrival) cannot satisfy that criterion.To attack the convoy would be a war crime.

If Israel did attack the convoy, that would be interference withdelivery of US humanitarian aid. Under US law the US would have tosuspend weapons deliveries to Israel.

The US thus has plenty of leverage to make Israel stop blocking thisaid, but does not use it.

Let's not lose sight ofwhere we want to end up.