The $230 million US-built pier in Gaza is closing after two months of unrest

A prominent $230 million dock that the Biden administration said would deliver enormous volumes of humanitarian assistance into war-torn Gaza is closing after only two months due to weather-related issues and theft.

National security advisor Jake Sullivan said on Thursday, "I do anticipate that we will wind down pier operations in relatively short order."

Sullivan argued that because of important border crossings that had recently reopened during the Israel-Hamas conflict, the temporary floating pier that the United States erected is no longer necessary for Gaza's delivery of food, water, and other humanitarian goods. On May 17, the first humanitarian relief cargoes landed at the dock.

"Getting supplies into Gaza is not the fundamental problem at hand. The goal is to provide supplies to Gaza," Sullivan said.

President Joe Biden announced the pier's construction at his State of the Union speech in March, stating that it will "enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day."

However, issues with the pier have existed from the beginning. The Pentagon said on Thursday that troops had failed to reanchor the pier that was used to transport assistance to Gaza on Wednesday, instead dragging it to Israel, casting doubt on whether it would ever work again.

In May, mobs took control of the first relief convoys. At least three of the 1,000 personnel participating in the operation have been hurt as a result of bad weather and choppy waves that have sometimes sheared the pier from land and beached boats connected to the exercise.

An advantageous thing

Sullivan said that he still sees it as a success. "I see any result that produces more food, more humanitarian goods getting to the people of Gaza as a success," he said. It has an additive effect. there's a good thing that there's something extra that would not have arrived when it did.

The Pentagon press secretary, Air Force Maj. Gen. Ryder, said in a statement on Thursday that the pier is being towed to Israel, where it will stay for the time being.

About 20 million pounds of humanitarian supplies had been sent to Gaza with the pier's assistance.

More information on the procedure and timeline for the pier's closure will be made available in the next days, according to Ryder.