Pentagon Announces End to Gaza Pier Aid Delivery Mission

Humanitarian aid reaches Gaza via the temporary Trident Pier on June 11, 2024. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mikayla Fritz

A makeshift pier built by the U.S. military to help facilitate the flow of aid into Gaza is to be dismantled, the Pentagon has announced.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command, said on July 17 that the temporary 1,200-foot floating dock, known as the Trident Pier, that was anchored into the sand at Gaza will now be removed.

“Our assessment is that the temporary pier has achieved its intended effect to surge a very high volume of aid into Gaza and ensure that aid reaches the civilians in Gaza in a quick manner,” he said.

“The pier provided an essential supplemental route for aid into Gaza at a critical time when other routes were challenged. If not delivered via the pier, this critical aid would likely not have been able to reach the people of Gaza in acute need.”

According to Vice Adm. Cooper, nearly 20 million pounds of aid have been delivered through the floating structure, which has cost a total of $230 million. Initially, the pier was projected to deliver as many as 2 million humanitarian aid meals, or 150 trucks of humanitarian assistance, per day to Gaza’s population of 2.2 million.

At this stage, efforts will now be redirected to land-based delivery routes. U.S. vessels will sail aid from Cyprus to Israel’s Port of Ashdod, and it will then be delivered by trucks through the northern Gaza border crossing with Israel.

“The most effective and efficient way to get aid in Gaza is through the land routes, so now, the maritime surge mission is transitioning from a temporary pier in Gaza to the Port of Ashdod, Israel,” Vice Adm. Cooper said.

“In the coming weeks, we expect that millions of pounds of aid will enter into Gaza via this new pathway.”

The exact date for removal wasn’t specified.

Repeated Damage in Bad Weather

Since the pier went into operation on May 17, operations have been suspended on three separate occasions because of concerns about poor weather and “heavy sea states.”

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on May 28 that three days earlier, four U.S. Army vessels acting as “motorized pier sections, which are used to stabilize the Trident Pier,” broke away from their anchors and beached ashore in Gaza. The troops aboard had to be evacuated.

The dock was last moored to the Gaza shoreline in late June before being relocated to Ashdod for a third time in only a few weeks for repairs.

On June 27, the Pentagon inspector general’s office announced that it intended to review the military’s handling of the pier mission. The inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development also has announced a review of aid distribution throughout the Gaza Strip.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was critical of the operation, saying on July 17 that the pier spent roughly double the amount of time in transit than in use.