President Joe Biden’s taxpayer-funded pier located off the shore of Gaza witnessed another malfunction this week and has 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. “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.”
The Department of Defense told Reuters last month that the pier designed to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza would cost taxpayers more than double the original price.
Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) told Reuters that the cost had “exploded.”
“This dangerous effort with marginal benefit will now cost the American taxpayers at least $320 million to operate the pier for only 90 days.”
“How much will taxpayers be on the hook once – or if – the pier is finally constructed?” he asked. “For every day this mission continues, the price tag goes up and so does the level of risk for the 1,000 deployed troops within range of Hamas’ rockets.”
The temporary pier was announced in March during Biden’s State of the Union and is expected to be completed in early May.
