US Military Removes Gaza Aid Pier for Third Time as Rough Seas Roll In

Soldiers of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy sailors, and Israel Defense Forces are pictured placing the Trident Pier on the coast of Gaza Strip on May 16, 2024. U.S. Central Command via AP

The U.S. military has, for a third time in just over a month, detached and started to relocate its temporary Gaza humanitarian assistance pier, amid concerns about weather damage.

At a June 28 press briefing, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh announced U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) had detached the pier and had begun to tow it to the Israeli port city of Ashdod to wait out high waves forecast for the weekend.

“As always, the safety of our service members is a top priority, and temporarily relocating the pier will prevent potential structural damage that could be caused by the heightened sea state,” Ms. Singh said.

President Joe Biden ordered the pier construction in March.

He wanted it as a means of boosting assistance to civilians in the Gaza Strip amid fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and terrorist group Hamas.

The U.S. military completed the initial pier in May and connected it to the shoreline on May 16.

Aid deliveries began to flow into a marshaling area further inland the following day. However, a storm caused four U.S. Army vessels supporting the structure to drift off their anchors and beach themselves on May 25.

CENTCOM relocated the pier to Ashdod for repairs and then on June 7 reattached it back to the Gaza shoreline.

A week later rough sea conditions forced another relocation.

It came back online on June 20 and began transferring aid again before Ms. Singh announced the latest set of challenges.

The latest decision to relocate the pier comes a day after the offices of the inspectors general for the Department of Defense and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced they would each conduct a review of how U.S. military and foreign aid officials have managed this humanitarian corridor.

Despite the weather challenges, Ms. Singh said the pier mission had been a success.

“Since May 17, we’ve had over 19 million pounds of aid delivered to the shore in Gaza,” she said. “That is, I say, a great success.”

Ms. Singh noted some aid delivered across the temporary pier and into the adjoining marshaling area is still awaiting broader distribution throughout the Gaza Strip.

She said the Biden administration is working with groups to ensure the distribution effort happens. “Our men and women in uniform have done really heroic work” helping facilitate the aid deliveries, she said.

The Pentagon spokeswoman also reiterated that the temporary pier is an additive measure for delivering humanitarian assistance, to go along with overland and airdropped supply efforts.

The latest United Nations Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment states that a high famine risk pervades the Gaza Strip as long as the current fighting continues.

The U.N. assessment projects about 96 percent of the Gaza Strip’s population, or around 2 million people, will face acute food insecurity through September.