US Department of Defense announces closure of Gaza humanitarian aid pier

The US has axed the temporary aid pier that was set up to help get humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

The US Department of Defense announced the pier, which was only announced by US President Joe Biden less than four months ago, has "concluded its operations".

Sabrina Singh, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary, said in a press briefing that, with collaboration from "12 nations, international partners, USAID, and the United Nations, the temporary pier successfully delivered nearly 20 million pounds of aid".

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This, she said, was the "highest volume of humanitarian assistance the US military has ever delivered into the Middle East".

"The temporary pier achieved its goal of providing an additive means of delivering high volumes of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza," she said.

"In the coming days, CENTCOM will work with USAID to deliver the remaining aid commodities currently afloat to the Port of Ashdod in Israel for onward distribution to Gaza."

She also said Central Command "would provide coordination and liaison support for humanitarian aid deliveries at the request of USAID when appropriate".

RFA Cardigan Bay provided accommodation to the hundreds of American soldiers and sailors helped to deliver aid via the pier.

Last week, Major General Patrick Ryder said US troops had tried to reconnect the pier to Gaza's shoreline, but failed because of "technical and weather-related issues".

Bad weather at the end of June had led to the floating pier being removed previously.

While Israel resisted US and international demands to let more aid into Gaza by land, 8,100 tonnes of food have been delivered to the besieged strip via the pier since the operation began in mid-May.

Humanitarian groups, however, said it is only a small portion of what is urgently needed.

According to Military Times, the operation to build, install and use the floating structure is estimated to have cost $270m and resulted in injuries to three US service members, with one service member needing to be evacuated back to the United States.