Pentagon bats down reports that Gaza aid pier will shut down

U.S. forces have temporarily removed a pier used to transport humanitarian aid into Gaza, relocating it to the city of Ashdod in Israel, Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Friday. U.S. soldiers removed the pier to protect it from impending severe weather, she said. The Associated Press had reported previously that anonymous U.S. officials said the pier might not be reinstalled. Those officials cited concerns about the pier’s vulnerability to storms and humanitarian agencies' failure to distribute aid effectively. When asked to confirm those reports, Singh said that the pier would be reinstalled if it continued to be useful, and if and when officials determined weather permitted doing so, but she admitted she did not have an estimated date for when that would be.

How has the pier fared recently? In the past week, roughly 10 million pounds of humanitarian aid were delivered to Gaza, Singh said. Earlier this year, the pier broke into pieces amid severe weather while attached to the coast of Gaza. U.S. forces gathered the separated pieces and reassembled the pier in Israel before reattaching the pier to the coast of Gaza.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about the United States announcing in March that it and its allies would be building the pier.