US President Joe Biden said Thursday he is "disappointed" with the problem-plagued effort to deliver aid to Gaza via a temporary pier, which American officials say will soon permanently end.
The $230-million military pier has repeatedly been detached from the shore because of weather conditions since its initial installation in mid-May. The project also faced issues with the distribution of assistance due to conditions onshore.
"I've been disappointed that some of the things that I've put forward have not succeeded as well, like the port we attached from Cyprus -- I was hopeful that would be more successful," Biden said of the pier project during a news conference in Washington.
Earlier in the day, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told journalists he anticipates "that in relatively short order, we will wind down pier operations."
Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said in a statement that "the pier will soon cease operations, with more details on that process and timing available in the coming days."
The pier was detached from the coast late last month due to anticipated high seas, and Ryder said an effort to reattach it on Wednesday was unsuccessful.
US personnel "attempted yesterday to reanchor the temporary pier to the beach in Gaza to resume humanitarian operations. However, due to technical and weather-related issues," they were unable to do so, Ryder said.
- No reattachment date set -
"The pier and support vessels and equipment are returning to Ashdod (in Israel) where they will remain until further notice. A reanchoring date has not been set," he said.
The pier was damaged by bad weather in May and had to be removed for repairs. It was then reattached on June 7, but was moved to Ashdod on June 14 to protect it from anticipated high seas -- a situation that was repeated later in the month.
Biden announced the pier project during his State of the Union address in March as Israel held up deliveries of aid by land.
"To date, more than 8,100 metric tons (nearly 20 million pounds) of humanitarian aid have been delivered from the pier to the marshaling area where it can be collected by humanitarian organizations for onward delivery and distribution," Ryder said.
But distribution has been a problem, with the UN World Food Programme suspending deliveries of assistance that arrived via the pier last month to assess the security situation after Israel conducted a military operation nearby.
Gaza is suffering through a war that broke out after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 38,345 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry.
Source: AFP