The U.S.-built temporary pier taking humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians will be removed from the coast of Gaza to be repaired after getting damaged in rough seas and weather, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Over the next two days, the pier will be pulled out and sent to the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, where U.S. Central Command will repair it, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. She said the fixes will take “at least over a week” and then the pier will need to be anchored back into the beach in Gaza.

The pier, used to carry in humanitarian aid arriving by sea, is one of the few ways that food, water and other supplies are getting to Palestinians who the U.N. says are on the brink of famine amid the nearly 8-month-old war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The setback is the latest for the $320 million pier, which only began operations in the past two weeks and has already had three U.S. service members injured and had four of its vessels beached due to heavy seas. Deliveries also were halted for two days last week after crowds rushed aid trucks coming from the pier and one Palestinian man was shot dead. After that, the U.S. military worked with the U.N. and Israeli officials to select safer alternate routes for trucks, the Pentagon said Friday.

  • @Fades
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    4 months ago

    https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3702062/pentagon-press-secretary-air-force-maj-gen-pat-ryder-holds-a-press-briefing/

    In addition to U.S. military humanitarian airdrops and the U.S. government’s efforts to continue sustaining and expanding assistance going in by land, as President Biden announce last evening, the Department of Defense will undertake an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in Gaza, working alongside like-minded countries and partners.

    it was always a temporary, time-oriented thing, as another way to get aid to Gaza while bypassing the israeli zionist fuckfaces that attack and stop aid trucks. Trucks are better per the UN but if they can’t get there they’re useless.