Image source, Getty Images
- author, Bernd Debsmann Jr.
- role, BBC News, The White House
A temporary pier built by the U.S. military to transport aid to the Gaza Strip was damaged by heavy seas and will take at least a week to repair, U.S. officials said.
U.S. forces began construction a few weeks ago on a floating dock that is tethered to the Gaza Strip coastline by a temporary embankment.
The causeway portion of the project is currently reported to be broken and will need to be repaired before it can be put back in place.
Humanitarian groups have warned that the amount of aid reaching Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is only a fraction of what is needed to meet the needs of the population.
The pier, first announced by U.S. authorities in March, consists of two main parts: a large floating dock made of steel segments and a two-lane, 1,800-foot (548-meter) breakwater and pier.
The causeway portion of the project consists of a series of 40-foot (12-meter) steel pieces connected together and anchored to the shore.
The Defence Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that part of the dike had collapsed due to rough seas.
While it remains tethered to the Gaza coastline, the section will need to be detached and taken to Israel’s port of Ashod, where it will be repaired and then reattached to the causeway so it can be put back into service.
The pier is expected to be removed over the next two days with the help of the Israeli navy, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said.
Repairs will likely take more than a week, she added.
Singh said weather conditions in the region did not create an “optimal environment” for the deployment of the jetty, but defence officials were confident the jetty would be operational again soon.
“Weather is unpredictable,” she said, “but given the time of year, we believe we can get this pier moored again.”
Mick Mulroy, a former assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East and co-founder of Fogbow, a private company working on the Gaza docks, told the BBC it was “expected” that weather delays would “pose challenges”.
“But these challenges are surmountable, and the mission itself is worth the effort,” he said. “People are in desperate need of help, and this is one way to provide it.”
The US military confirmed on May 17 that the first humanitarian aid had been delivered to the Gaza Strip via the jetty, but in a separate incident last weekend, four vessels supporting the jetty were unable to moor due to “heavy weather”, with two of them running aground.
In the earlier incident, three US soldiers taking part in the mission at the Gaza docks were also injured, one of whom was taken to an Israeli hospital in serious condition.
Reuters quoted a spokesman for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) as saying that the UN has transported a total of 137 trucks carrying about 900 tonnes of aid from the wharf since it began operations.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at the White House on Tuesday that the dock was never intended to “replace” aid arriving in Gaza by land, but rather could be a “force multiplier.”
The Pentagon estimates that more than 1,000 tons have been delivered to shore and just over 900 tons have arrived at UN warehouses.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country remained committed to a “total victory” in Rafah, Hamas’ last remaining stronghold in the southern Gaza Strip, amid growing concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Strip.
Israel’s military operation in Gaza began after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, leaving some 1,200 people dead and 252 taken as hostages in Gaza.
Since then, more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza Strip’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
