The US military has ended its ill-fated mission to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza with a temporary pier erected only in May after it was hit by weather, security and technical issues.
The pier, estimated to have cost $320mn to construct, was operational for just 20 days, tasked with helping bring vital aid to civilians in the beleaguered Gaza Strip as Israel continues its offensive in retaliation for Hamas' October 7 attacks.
'The maritime surge mission involving the pier is complete. So there's no more need to use the pier,' Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, told a news briefing on Wednesday.
Cooper said efforts to distribute aid to Gaza arriving by sea would now shift to the established port of Ashdod in Israel. At least five million pounds of aid, which are either in Cyprus or on ships, will be going to Ashdod in the coming days, he said.
'Our assessment is that the temporary pier has achieved its intended effect to surge a very high volume of aid into Gaza and ensure that aid reaches the civilians in Gaza in a quick manner,' Cooper said, adding that nearly 20 million pounds of aid was delivered to Gaza.
The pier, costing some $320million, was operational for just 20 days since May
A U.S. Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the pier, June 25
1 million pounds of aid is estimated to have passed through the pier through its brief lifespan
The pier, announced by President Joe Biden during a televised address to Congressin March, was a massive endeavor that took about 1,000 U.S. forces to execute.
Aid began flowing via the pier to Gaza in May, an operation aimed at helping avert famine after months of war between Israel and Hamas.
But bad weather and distribution challenges inside Gaza limited the effectiveness of what the U.S. military says was its biggest aid delivery effort ever in the Middle East.
The pier became a sore point in Congress, where Republicans branded it a political stunt by Biden, who was under pressure from fellow Democrats to do more to aid Palestinians after months of staunchly supporting Israel's punishing war on Hamas.
"This chapter might be over in President Biden's mind, but the national embarrassment that this project has caused is not,'Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.
The only miracle is that this doomed-from-the-start operation did not cost any American lives.'
Cooper said he expected the pier, which was authorized to be used until the end of July, to cost less than the $230 million the Pentagon had expected it to cost.
Cooper said the United States had so far delivered more than 1 million pounds of aid through Ashdod and he was confident more could be delivered through that port.
"We look forward to millions more pounds of aid going through that pathway," he said.
While the pier brought in sorely needed aid to a marshalling area on Gaza's shore, the 1,200-foot-long (370-metre-long) floating pier had to be removed multiple times because of bad weather.
The pier has not been used since June, when it was moved to Ashdod port because of rough seas. It was unclear if the U.S. military had started dismantling the pier at Ashdod before its expected return to United States.
The U.N. World Food Programme paused operations at the pier in June because of security concerns, causing aid to pile up on the Gaza shore.
The United Nations has long said maritime deliveries were no substitute for land access. It said land routes needed to remain the focus of aid operations in the enclave, where a global hunger monitor last month said there is a high risk of famine.
Aid officials say about 600 trucks of humanitarian and commercial supplies are needed in Gaza daily to meet the needs of the population.
An American soldier stands guard with a dog at Trident Pier on June 25
An American boat carrying US soldiers and journalists sails near the Trident Pier, June 25
Destroyed buildings stand by the coast of the Gaza Strip as seen from the Mediterranean
The arrival of occasional aid convoys had slowed to a trickle since Israeli forces took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing in May.
The wider Palestinian enclave is still facing famine after an Israeli siege brought dire shortages of food as well as safe water, medicines and fuel for its 2.4 million people.
The UN has said that opening up land crossing points and allowing more trucks convoys into Gaza is the only way to stem the spiralling humanitarian crisis.
'We desperately need fuel,' UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. 'It doesn't matter how the aid comes, whether it's by sea or whether by land, without fuel, aid won't get to the people.'
“I have worked in crisis and conflict zones around the world, but the scale of the crisis in Gaza is unprecedented,' saidUlrike Julia Wendt, the International Red Cross' Emergency Child Protection Coordinator, who has just returned from Gaza,
'The situation in Gaza differs drastically from other conflict zones. The constant airstrikes create a pervasive threat with no safe spaces to run to, making it a uniquely terrifying situation.
'What struck me most when I arrived in Gaza and drove through neighborhoods was the sheer number of children on the streets, and so many of them without shoes.
'This is because all the schools have been shut down due to incessant Israeli bombardments. With schools closed, children are at an increased risk of exploitation, abuse, and violence.
'Put simply, they are not only being denied their childhood, but are also experiencing extreme trauma.'
Amnesty International yesterday called on Israeli authorities to end their 'indefinite incommunicado detention of Palestinians... without charge or trial', accusing them of 'flagrant violation of international law'.
The rights group cites 27 documented cases of former detainees including women and children held for periods of up to four and a half months without access to lawyers or contact with their families.
Some interviewed by Amnesty claimed they had been subjected to 'torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment'.
Those detained between February and April 2024 included 'doctors taken into custody at hospitals for refusing to abandon their patients', 'mothers separated from their infants while trying to cross the so called "safe corridor" from northern Gaza to the south', human rights defenders , UN workers, journalists and other civilians, Amnesty claimed.
'All those interviewed by Amnesty International said they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment,' the harrowing report concluded.
