There’s been some news about the $320 million pier project in Gaza, initiated under President Joe Biden’s administration. The project has encountered significant issues and has been forced to halt operations. The announcement came from Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary, during a press conference on Tuesday.
Singh explained that the pier suffered extensive damage and sections of it require rebuilding and repair. She attributed the failure to “a perfect storm of high seas” combined with a “North African weather system” (rain) that hit the area simultaneously.
Apparenlty, no one thought that the ocean might get rough and it could rain.
Due to the damage, the U.S. Military plans to move the pier from Gaza to Israel for repairs, a process expected to take at least a week. Singh noted that most U.S. soldiers remained on their vessels during the incident and are still onboard. Within the next 24 to 48 hours, the Israeli Navy is expected to assist in repositioning the vessels, aiming to have them operational soon.
A video of the pier sinking surfaced on Monday, featuring a man speaking Hebrew and laughing at the sight of the pier “sinking.” According to NBC News, the man described the pier as “simply disconnected and practically swamped.”
BREAKING: AMERICAN GAZA PORT SINKING
GAZA: Netzerim Beach: Reports are coming in that the American pier in Gaza is sinking. pic.twitter.com/oJCGjD6OdE
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) May 27, 2024
The report comes after U.S. Military vessels ran ashore in Gaza near the pier. As stated by U.S. Central Command, efforts to recover these vessels are ongoing with assistance from the Israeli Navy. The IDF is supporting recovery efforts near the pier.
This project has been a significant disappointment for the Biden administration. Despite deploying a thousand U.S. service members to operationalize the pier, only 820 tons of aid were offloaded in its first week. Unfortunately, approximately one-third of that aid was hijacked and stolen.
Additionally, three U.S. service members were injured last week during an operation supporting the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza. On May 23, a service member sustained a non-combat related injury aboard the USNS Benavidez (T-AKR 306) and was transported to a medical facility in critical condition. Two other service members sustained minor injuries.
