US to suspend Gaza aid deliveries by sea after pier suffers damage: Report
The US military has suspended aid deliveries by sea to Gaza after bad weather damaged the temporary pier it had set up on the besieged territory’s coast, US media reports say.
NBC said in its report, which cited a United Nations official, that the US military was expected to make the announcement later on Tuesday.
Bad weather and high tides caused significant damage to the freaky structure. The US military earlier said four army vessels supporting the Gaza pier mission were affected by heavy sea states.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said two of the vessels were anchored on the beach near the pier and the other two were beached near Ashkelon in the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories.
Videos have gone viral showing parts of US vessels and the pier itself floating in different areas.
Read more:
- US-built $320m pier in Gaza, washed away in high seas, is doomed to fail
- Former top UN official: US pier in Gaza failed to have any meaningful impact
Last week, three US service members were injured during pier operations with two suffering minor injuries. The third trooper was medically evacuated to an Israeli hospital for further treatment and is in critical condition.
President Joe Biden ordered the construction of a temporary pier in what US officials said was a bid to “surge” assistance to the Palestinians.
The construction of the $320-million floating pier was completed in mid-May to provide aid to the Gaza Strip.
The structure had failed to have any meaningful impact on the Palestinian population in Gaza.
The aid delivered had fallen significantly short of the requirements outlined by the United Nations. This has raised concerns among US lawmakers and critics, who question the project’s effectiveness.
The construction of the project was criticized as an attempt to distract attention from Israel’s deliberate blockade of land crossings to Gaza and its using starvation as a weapon against 2.3 million Palestinians trapped in the area.
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