Pentagon to Dismantle Temporary Pier Built for Gaza Aid Operation

The Biden administration will soon permanently shut down the star-crossed $230 million temporary pier that the U.S. military built to rush humanitarian aid to Gaza, American officials said on Thursday.

“I do anticipate that in relatively short order, we will wind down pier operations,” Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters.

On Wednesday, personnel from the military’s Central Command attempted and failed to reattach the makeshift pier to the beach in Gaza after rough seas forced operators to remove the structure several days ago to avoid damage, the Pentagon said.

In a statement, Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said the latest effort to re-anchor the pier failed because of “technical and weather-related issues,” recurring problems that The New York Times identified last month when it reported that military officials had warned aid organizations that the project could be dismantled as early as July.

General Ryder said in the statement on Thursday that the pier, support vessels and other equipment would return to port in Ashdod, Israel, “where they will remain until further notice. A re-anchoring date has not been set.”

Mr. Biden ordered the U.S. military to begin building the pier in March, at a time when he was being sharply criticized for not doing more to rein in Israel’s military response to the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7. At the time, health authorities were warning that Gaza was on the precipice of famine.