The Gaza’s floating aid pier, which was constructed at a cost of around $230m, has been formally shut down by the US military. The floating pier, installed in May this year, ceased to function in June. With the aid pier shutting down, now the focus has shifted to Israel’s Ashdod Port.
When US President Joe Biden announced the flagship scheme in March, voices of dissent had erupted. The Republicans criticised it as a “political stunt” by Biden. Many experts were also sceptical regarding the geographical pattern of the region with rough seas and adverse weather conditions.
US military was forced to end its efforts to ship humanitarian aid to Palestinians via the floating pier due to challenging weather conditions and security problems. In late May, stormy weather that hit the region destroyed four small landing craft that was used in the operation. Later, the military took the decision to shift the pier to Ashdod Port.
Though the pier was re-anchored on June 19, operations paused again for less than a week.
When the floating pier was constructed, Biden had said that it would “enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.”
Around 1,000 US troops were deployed to establish the pier. The pier was operational for about 20 days and more than 20 million aid was delivered before it ended its operations.
According to US officials, the pier has been a success in delivering badly needed food aid to the territory.
“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 also added that at least 5 million pounds of aid, which are on ships or either in Cyprus, will be going to Ashdod in the coming days, he added.
“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.
Cooper said the United States had so far delivered more than 1 million pounds of aid through Ashdod. “We look forward to millions more pounds of aid going through that pathway,” he said.
He added that it was due to rough seas, the aid supply had moved to Ashdod port. The UN World Food Programme also paused operations at the pier in June because of security concerns, causing aid to pile up on the Gaza shore.
