Humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza suspended after US-built pier breaks apart
The US has halted delivering aid into Gaza via the newly built pier after bad weather and high tides caused significant damage over the weekend, a US official said on Tuesday.
The Pentagon later added that the military pier off the coast of Gaza was being removed for repairs and would be returned once fixed. The temporary pier will be repaired at the Israeli port of Ashdod and will take about a week to be completed, Deputy Pentagon Spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said.
Over the weekend, the US military said four Army vessels supporting the Gaza pier mission were affected by heavy sea states. Two of the vessels were anchored on the beach near the pier and the other two were beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.
On Tuesday, Singh said there were US troops stuck on three of the vessels. A US defense official said later Tuesday evening that there were no longer any soldiers stranded on the vessels. “All servicemembers have been removed from the beached vessels,” the defense official said.
Three US servicemembers were injured last week during pier operations with two suffering minor injuries and returning to duty shortly after. The third troop was medically evacuated to a local Israel hospital for further treatment and is still in critical condition.
Frustrated by the lack of Israeli cooperation to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, US President Joe Biden ordered the construction of a temporary pier in what US officials said was a bid to “surge” assistance to Palestinians.
US officials said other ways to get aid into Gaza were currently being reviewed.
Biden’s order to build the pier, issued in March, was completed over one week ago. However, the aid delivered so far has fallen significantly short of the requirements outlined by officials and the United Nations. This has raised concerns among US lawmakers and critics, who question the project’s effectiveness and estimated cost of over $300 million in American taxpayer funds.
