A temporary pier built by the US military to deliver aid to Gaza was damaged by rough seas and will take at least a week to repair, according to US officials.
US forces began constructing the floating pier – which is connected to the Gaza shoreline by a temporary causeway – several weeks ago.
The roadway portion of the project would now be interrupted and will need to be repaired before being returned to its proper place.
Aid organizations have warned that the amount of aid reaching Palestinians in Gaza is only a fraction of what is needed to meet the needs of its population.
The pier, first announced by US authorities in March, is composed of two main elements: a large floating dock made of steel segments and an 1,800 ft (548 m) two-lane causeway and pier.
The roadway portion of the project is comprised of a series of 40-foot (12 m) interconnected steel pieces linked together and attached to the shoreline.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed that part of the causeway had broken away due to heavy seas.
Although attached to the Gaza shore, the part will need to be removed and transported to the Israeli port of Ashod for repairs before it can be reattached to the causeway and returned to service.
According to Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, the pier will be dismantled over the next two days with the help of the Israeli Navy.
Repairs will take more than a week, she added.
Ms Singh said weather conditions in the region had not created an “optimal environment” for the deployment of the jetty, but defense officials remained confident it would soon be operational again.
“I can’t predict the weather,” she said. “But we think given the time of year we will be able to re-anchor that pier.”
Mick Mulroy, former assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East and one of the founders of Fogbow, a private company involved in the Gaza pier project, told the BBC that weather-related delays “risked ” of “posing challenges”.
“But these challenges can be overcome, and the mission itself is worth it,” he said. “People are desperate for help and this is a way to provide it.”
On May 17, the US military confirmed that the first shipments of humanitarian aid had been delivered to Gaza via the pier, but in another incident last weekend, four ships supporting the pier undocked in “rough sea states”, grounding two of them.
In an earlier incident, three US soldiers participating in the Gaza pier mission were also injured, one of whom was in critical condition and evacuated to a hospital in Israel.
The Reuters news agency quoted the World Food Program (WFP) spokesperson as saying the UN had transported a total of 137 aid trucks from the pier – around 900 metric tonnes – since the start of its operations. operations.
At the White House on Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the pier should never “supplant” aid arriving in Gaza via land crossings, but rather could be a ” force multiplier.
The Pentagon estimates that more than 1,000 tons were delivered ashore, of which just over 900 tons reached UN warehouses.
Despite growing concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he remained committed to a “total victory” in Rafah, Hamas’ last urban stronghold in the southern strip.
The Israeli military campaign in Gaza began after Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 252 others hostage in Gaza.
Since then, more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
News Source : www.bbc.com
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