On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that the US military has halted humanitarian delivery to the Gaza Strip by sea after its temporary pier was damaged by bad weather.
Sabrina Singh, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary, stated, “High seas and a North African weather system had caused a section of the pier to come away on Tuesday morning”.
Singh went on to say, “The rebuilding and repairing of the pier will take at least over a week, and, following completion, will need to be re-anchored to the coast of Gaza”.
“Thus, upon completion of the pier repair and reassembly, the intention is to re-anchor the temporary pier to the coast of Gaza and resume humanitarian aid to the people who need it most”, Singh added.
The destruction is the latest setback for the pier, which opened two weeks ago.
On Saturday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported, “Four US Army vessels supporting the pier broke free from their moorings and ran aground in heavy seas”.
“Two beached in Gaza while the other two washed up on the coast of Israel, 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Tel Aviv. One has been recovered and the other three will be brought back in within 48 hours”, Singh added.
Gaza is in the grip of its worst war in history, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,170 people.
According to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,800 individuals, mostly women and children.
Israel has put a siege on Gaza, depriving the territory’s 2.4 million residents of most clean water, food, medicines, and fuel.
In March, US President Joe Biden stated that the pier would be built to reduce Israeli limitations on land-based aid delivery to Gaza.
CENTCOM reported that 1,005 metric tonnes of aid had been transferred from the sea to the beach transfer site, with 903 metric tons being distributed from the transfer point to the UN warehouse.
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