2024 Maxar Technologies
A satellite image taken by Maxar Technologies on Tuesday afternoon (right) shows that most of the pontoon is missing, while a satellite image taken by Maxar Technologies on May 18 (left) shows what the pontoon looks like.
CNN
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The Pentagon said a temporary pier built by the U.S. military to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip collapsed and was damaged in heavy seas on Tuesday, dealing a major blow to U.S.-led efforts to create a sea corridor for humanitarian supplies to the war-torn strip.
The pier “is damaged and portions of the pier require reconstruction and repair,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Tuesday. The pier will be removed from Gaza’s coast within the next 48 hours and taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod where U.S. Central Command will carry out repairs, Singh said. Repairs are expected to take more than a week, further delaying efforts to make the maritime corridor fully operational.
Four US officials had earlier told CNN that the pier had collapsed in heavy seas.
Officials said part of the pier, which consists of a narrow causeway for bringing aid to the Gaza Strip and a large parking lot for unloading supplies brought by boat, was severed on Sunday. The parking lot needs to be reconnected to the causeway before the pier can be used again.
The damage, first reported by NBC News, came three days after rough seas forced two small US naval vessels to run aground on the Israeli coast and two other ships to abandon their moorings and anchor near a pier, US Central Command said.
“I believe the vast majority of our service members were able to remain on the ship, and they remain on the ship,” Singh said at a Pentagon press conference on Tuesday, “and … within the next 24 to 48 hours, the Israeli Navy will be assisting the ship in retreat, and we are hopeful that the ship will be fully operational by that time.”
Maxar Technologies
Satellite imagery taken by Maxar Technologies on Tuesday afternoon showed most of the pontoon missing.
The $320 million pier had only just begun operations on May 17, but rough seas halted marine traffic on May 24, two days before part of the pier was severed. It is unclear when traffic will resume.
The temporary pier, called Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS), requires extremely favorable sea conditions to function. CNN previously reported that JLOTS can only safely operate in waves of up to 3 feet and winds of less than about 15 miles per hour.
Poor sea conditions delayed the installation of the pier by several weeks, and the system was moored in Israel’s port of Ashdod awaiting more favorable conditions.
The United States stresses that the temporary wharf is solely intended to facilitate the transport of humanitarian supplies overland between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, said Thursday that 820 tons of aid had been delivered through the jetty to Gaza shores, where the U.N. is responsible for distribution to Palestinian residents. The Pentagon said Thursday that more than 1,000 tons of aid had been delivered by the time the jetty was shut down.
Daniel Diekhaus, head of USAID’s Levant Response Management Team, told reporters on Thursday that Cyprus has “thousands of tonnes” of aid waiting to be delivered through the maritime corridor, but deliveries are currently halted because the temporary jetty is out of service.
CNN’s Paul Murphy contributed reporting.
This story has been updated with additional details.
Fix: This story was updated to reflect that the pier collapsed on Tuesday.
