The US military is ending its temporary pier mission off the Gaza coast that has been plagued with challenges after roughly 20 days of operational use, as humanitarian aid begins being brought in through an Israeli port instead.
“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,” deputy commander of US Central Command Vice Adm. Brad Cooper told reporters on Wednesday.
The US service members operating the pier, called the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, will soon redeploy back to the US, though Cooper did not specify when.
Cooper said the pier was operational for “a little more than 20 days” and delivered 19.4 million pounds of aid. Going forward, aid will be brought from Cyprus directly through the Ashdod port in Israel — which Cooper called a “more sustainable path” — or through land crossings into Gaza. In the last several weeks, he said, more than a million pounds of aid was delivered through the Ashdod port.
“Israel has been fully supportive of this effort,” he said. For the aid now coming through the Ashdod port, Cooper said it will be taken on trucks through the Erez crossing into Gaza. The US military will continue to help deliver the remaining aid from Cyprus to Ashdod, Cooper said.
While Cooper repeatedly claimed that the pier had completed its mission and was successful, the effort has been plagued with issues since the pier was first anchored to the beach in Gaza in May.
The pier was announced by President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address in March.
“A temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day,” Biden said.
But the pier which cost $230 million did little to alleviate the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza as the war between Hamas and Israel, which has claimed thousands of civilian lives, continues.