US-built pier in Gaza resumes operations after latest weather setback, official says
Dock, meant to assist with delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, faces uncertain future after series of complications turning project into costly boondoggle
The United States-military-built pier in Gaza was unloading humanitarian aid again Thursday after being removed for a second time last week because of rough seas, a US defense official said.
The pier was reattached to Gaza’s shoreline on Wednesday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss US military operations.
The pier, which cost the US at least $230 million, was meant to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza via the United Nations’s World Food Program. It has faced a number of setbacks, most recently when it was temporarily removed last Friday due to poor sea conditions.
Aid groups have decried the pier as a distraction that took pressure off Israel to open more border crossings, which are far more productive at bringing aid into Gaza as Palestinians are facing widespread hunger. The United Nations has suspended its cooperation with the pier project since June 9 and is conducting a security review.
Aid began arriving via the US-built pier on May 17, and the UN said it transported 137 trucks of aid to warehouses, some 900 metric tons.
But rough seas quickly damaged the pier, with the US military announcing repairs on May 28, and poor weather and security considerations have limited the number of days it has been operational.
US President Joe Biden announced in March the plan to put the pier in place for aid deliveries as famine loomed in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
The US military estimated the pier cost more than $200 million and involved about 1,000 service members in the project.
Yet it is unclear how much longer it will be operational, though a New York Times report said it could be dismantled early next month. According to the Times, the pier has only completed 10 full days of operations since it was opened.
Speaking at the Pentagon on Tuesday, spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder declined to say when the military might halt pier operations altogether. He said the pier has so far allowed for a total of over 3,500 metric tons of aid to reach Gaza’s shores.
“With the caveat that this has always been intended to be a temporary pier, I’m not aware at this point of any established date of: ‘This is when we’re going to stop,’” he told reporters.
“And again, taking a step back here, the big picture: Whether it be by land, sea or air, [the United States is] employing all avenues to get assistance into Gaza.”
The ongoing war in the enclave was started by the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in which Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 37,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting, an unverified figure that does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The toll is believed to include some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
UN officials have also said they were reassessing the use of the pier, claiming that Israeli military activity nearby had jeopardized the perceived neutrality of the aid route.
Israel and the US deny that any aspect of the month-old US pier was used in the Israeli raid earlier in June to rescue four hostages. They say an area near it was used to fly home the hostages.
Rushing out a mortally wounded Israeli commando after the mission, Israeli forces opted against returning the way they came, across a land border, Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters. Instead, they sped toward the beach and the site of the US aid hub on Gaza’s coast, he said. An Israeli helicopter touched down near the US-built pier and helped whisk away hostages and the commando, according to the US and Israeli militaries.
