The U.S.-built pier to transport humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza will close and be dismantled due to repeated weather and security problems, a top U.S. military official said during a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander at U.S. Central Command, told reporters that the pier mission, which has received criticism over its ineffectiveness and high cost, is complete and therefore will be dismantled.
President Joe Biden announced the creation of the temporary pier in March after thousands of Palestinians were killed by numerous Israeli ground and air offensives that followed Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack, which took around 250 hostages and killed 1,200 people.
Newsweek reached out to the Naval Forces Central Command on Wednesday via email for comment.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that Israel's retaliation for the Hamas attack has flattened large swaths of Gaza, leaving over 2 million Palestinians displaced, at least 34,000 dead and thousands without essential food, water or health services.
According to June 2024 U.N. and Integrated Food Security report, "about 96 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip (2.15 million people) face high levels of acute food insecurity."
The pier began receiving aid packages two months ago on May 17, and the U.S. military said it has facilitated nearly 20 million pounds of supplies to Palestinians in need.
Last week, Biden said he was "disappointed" with the effort, which had promised to deliver up to two million meals per day to Gazans.
Since its creation, the pier has been dismantled and transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod for repairs due to bad weather on three separate occasions. The pier is currently at Ashdod, and Cooper says aid operations will shift to that port. Currently, 5 million pounds of aid are awaiting transit to Ashdod from Cyprus, Cooper told reporters.
A spokesperson for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) told Newsweek in an email Wednesday, "The Port of Ashdod has the increased logistical capacity to support the sustained flow of aid intended for Gaza.
"The Port of Ashdod was already a vital port of entry for life-saving aid before this humanitarian crisis began, and it is critical that the port is open and operating at maximum capacity now."
In June, Pentagon officials said repairs on the pier caused by rough seas were estimated to cost at least $22 million. Overall, the pier has cost around $230 million.
Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator of USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, told reporters on Wednesday that "the key challenge we have right now in Gaza is around the insecurity and lawlessness that is hampering the distribution once aid gets into Gaza and to the crossing points."
Israel controls all the checkpoints into and out of Gaza, notably having seized and shut down the main entry point, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, at the beginning of the conflict and again in May. Now, more entry points are open, but there are grave security risks with crossing, and many aid groups have ceased operations in the region.
Updated 7/17/24 at 6:44 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comment from USAID.
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