US military considers temporarily dismantling pier off coast of Gaza for second time due to rough sea conditions

CNN —

The US military is considering temporarily dismantling the humanitarian pier it constructed off the coast of Gaza and moving it back to Israel on Friday amid concerns that heavy seas could once again break it just days after it resumed aid delivery operations, multiple US officials said.

It would be the second time in a matter of weeks that the fragile pier and causeway system, known as Joint Logistics over the Shore or JLOTS, has had to be moved back to the Israeli port of Ashdod. A final decision is not expected to be made until Friday, officials said.

Earlier this month, the pier broke apart and sustained damage in heavy seas and had to be towed to Ashdod for repairs that took over a week. It was moved back to Gaza last week and resumed operations on Saturday but had to pause again due to heavy seas on Monday and Tuesday.

To date, the pier has been used to move thousands of tons of aid into Gaza, officials have said. But the pier’s ability to operate effectively is heavily dependent on favorable sea conditions, CNN has previously reported, and officials said on Thursday that current forecasts indicate that the waters will be rough on Friday and into the weekend.

Officials have told CNN that sea conditions in the eastern Mediterranean will only worsen as fall and winter approach, raising questions about the pier’s realistic lifespan.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme’s aid distribution operations at the pier have been suspended for days and aid has been piling up in the staging area on the beach in Gaza, officials said this week.

WFP Director Cindy McCain announced on Sunday the organization was pausing its work there after the IDF operation in Gaza that rescued four hostages held by Hamas and left