The Biden administration is reportedly spending an additional $22 million in taxpayer funds to repair the pier built in Gaza to “deliver humanitarian assistance to Gaza.”
The move comes just one week after the pier witnessed another malfunction and had to be relocated due to weather conditions a second time.
“Today, due to expected high seas, the temporary pier will be removed from its anchored position in Gaza and towed back to Ashdod, Israel,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement last week. “The safety of our service members is a top priority and temporarily relocating the pier will prevent structural damage caused by the heightened sea state.”
The pier, estimated to have cost up to $320 million to build, broke off and drifted onto an Israeli beach earlier last month.
“The decision to temporarily relocate the pier is not made lightly but is necessary to ensure the temporary pier can continue to deliver aid in the future,” the statement continued.
“After the period of expected high seas, the pier will be rapidly re-anchored to the coast of Gaza and resume delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. Since May 17, over 3,500 metric tons (7.7 million pounds) have been delivered through the maritime corridor for onward delivery by humanitarian organizations.”
In addition, the World Food Program announced over the weekend that they were suspending aid operations into Gaza because of looting.
“We are reassessing the safety aspects of where we should be and what this means for us,” said World Food Program head Cindy McCain. “It made things a lot more dangerous. The crowd is already hungry. They’re desperate. And then to have something like this occur?”
