The pier, announced by President Joe Biden during a
televised address to Congress in March, was a massive endeavor that took about
1,000 US forces to execute. Aid began flowing via the pier to Gaza in May, an
operation aimed at helping avert famine after months of war between Israel and
Hamas.
But bad weather and distribution challenges inside Gaza
limited the effectiveness of what the US military says was its biggest aid
delivery effort ever in the Middle East. The pier was only operational for
about 20 days.
"The maritime surge mission involving the pier is
complete. So there's no more need to use the pier," Navy Vice Admiral Brad
Cooper, the deputy commander of US Central Command, told a news briefing.
Cooper said efforts to distribute aid to Gaza arriving by
sea would now shift to the established port of Ashdod in Israel. At least 5
million pounds of aid, which are either in Cyprus or on ships, will be going to
Ashdod in the coming days, he said.
"Our assessment is that the temporary pier has achieved
its intended effect to surge a very high volume of aid into Gaza and ensure
that aid reaches the civilians in Gaza in a quick manner," Cooper said, adding
that nearly 20 million pounds of aid was delivered to Gaza.
The pier became a sore point in Congress, where Republicans
branded it a political stunt by Biden, who was under pressure from fellow
Democrats to do more to aid Palestinians after months of staunchly supporting
Israel's punishing war on Hamas.
"This
chapter might be over in President Biden’s mind, but the national embarrassment
that this project has caused is not. The only miracle is that this
doomed-from-the-start operation did not cost any American lives," Senator
Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.
Cooper said he expected the pier, which was authorized to be
used until the end of July, to cost less than the US$230 million the Pentagon
had expected it to cost.
Cooper said the United States had so far delivered more than
one million pounds of aid through Ashdod and he was confident more could be
delivered through that port.
"We look forward to millions more pounds of aid going
through that pathway," he said.
While the pier brought in sorely needed aid to a marshalling
area on Gaza's shore, the 1,200-foot-long (370-metre-long) floating pier had to
be removed multiple times because of bad weather.
The
pier has not been used since June, when it was moved to Ashdod port because of
rough seas. It was unclear if the US military had started dismantling the pier
at Ashdod before its expected return to United States.
The UN World Food Program paused operations at the pier in
June because of security concerns, causing aid to pile up on the Gaza shore.
The United Nations has long said maritime deliveries were no
substitute for land access. It said land routes needed to remain the focus of
aid operations in the enclave, where a global hunger monitor last month said
there is a high risk of famine.
Aid
officials say about 600 trucks of humanitarian and commercial supplies are
needed in Gaza daily to meet the needs of the population.
