A floating pier assembled by the U.S. military meant to be bringing aid to desperate Palestinians in Gaza sustained damage in rough seas and will have to be towed away for repairs after a part broke off, the Biden administration said Tuesday.
Just two weeks after it opened, the pier’s operations have been temporarily suspended and repairs could take more than a week. President Biden announced the project in March and White House touted it as a critical tool to get relief to the war-torn population.
The Biden administration had announced the pier as at least a temporary solution to reports of mass suffering and starvation in Gaza. With an estimated $320 million price tag, it provides a way to bring in relief from Cyprus even as Israel resists U.S. pressure to open more land routes for delivery of supplies.
Now, it is set to be towed to the southern Israeli city of Ashdod for repairs which could take ‘at least over a week,’ Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters Tuesday.
The Pentagon blames rough seas for the problems with the pier. U.S. Central Command said choppy conditions caused four U.S. vessels to break free of the pier. Two of them washed up on shore in Gaza.
A floating pier assembled by the U.S. military meant to be bringing aid to desperate Palestinians in Gaza sustained damage in rough seas and will have to be towed away for repairs after a part broke off, the Biden administration said Tuesday
Footage from land shows the rusted hull of a U.S. Army ship that had been beached amid efforts to free it. Two other vessels are anchored off the beach.
As Singh described it, the Trident pier, which has been anchored to the beach at Rafa, must be removed in order to be worked on.
‘Think of that Trident pier as having like a large tee. That top part of the tee disconnected, so that has been recovered. But in order to reassemble everything it’s going to to detach from the coastline move up to Ashdod to be reassembled and then reattached – re-anchored back,’ she said.
Singh said the pier had handled about 1,000 metric tons (over 2,000 pounds) of aid had been delivered on the pier before it went offline.
Repairs on the U.S.-built floating pier could take more than a week, and relief aid deliveries using the pier to Gaza have been halted. The pier is pictured on May 16
A U.S. Army landing craft is seen beached in Ashdod on Sunday, May 26, 2024, after being swept by wind and current from the temporary humanitarian pier in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
‘In order to reassemble everything it’s going to to detach from the coastline move up to Ashdod to be reassembled and then reattached,’ said Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh
The Pentagon said 1,000 metric tons of aid had been delivered during the two weeks the pier was functioning
The Pentagon blamed rough seas for the mishap
The setback comes after the administration touted the pier and negotiates with top Israeli officials about opening up more land routes for relief
The Pentagon says about 1,000 service members were involved in the project.
White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby, who marked the opening of the pier with a series of TV interviews earlier this month, has said there would be no U.S. boots on the ground in Israel but that U.S. forces would provide security for the pier.
Israeli journalist Caroline Glick posted an image Monday with commentary about the situation, writing that the pier was ‘sinking’ amid the rough seas.
‘The Biden pier in Gaza is sinking into the sea…. ($320m sinking along with it…),’ she wrote. The Jewish Press also reported that it was ‘sinking.’
‘It was never intended to supplant what you can do on the ground,’ said Kirby at the White House on Tuesday.
‘It’s been tough wether – weather plays a role. Mother Nature has a say here and the eastern Med – even in the summertime – can be a pretty rough place,’ he said.