The Pentagon is permanently dismantling the $230 million humanitarian pier off the coast of Gaza after just three weeks of operation, CBS News reported Wednesday.
"The pier has always been intended as a temporary solution, and it will conclude its mission soon, but as of today, I don’t have any announcements to make in terms of when the mission will officially conclude," said Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder.
Aid groups have long slammed the pier as ineffective and wasteful, with its 20-day operation plagued by rough weather and security problems that drastically limited the amount of aid flowing into Gaza.
In its mere 20 days of operation, the corridor helped the U.S. military deliver just 137 trucks of aid into the war-torn region, but several of the trucks were intercepted before they could reach the civilian population.
President Joe Biden, who first announced the pier’s construction during his State of the Union speech in March, expressed his disappointment last week over the project’s failure.
"I’ve been disappointed that some of the things that I put forward have not succeeded as well—like the port we attached from Cyprus," Biden said at a news conference last Thursday. "I was hopeful that would be more successful."
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday said a new pier will soon be built at Israel’s Ashdod port to replace the U.S. pier and continue delivering aid to Gaza. It remains unclear, however, exactly when the new pier will start operating.
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