The Pentagon announced Tuesday they had completed the construction of the humanitarian pier that will operate off the coast of the Gaza Strip, The Times of Israel reported.
The Pentagon noted, however, that bad weather was preventing moving the facility, which cost at least $320 million, into place, the outlet reported.
US completes construction of Gaza aid pier, but weather preventing installation https://t.co/s40y3wDvFc
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) May 7, 2024
“As of today, the construction of the two portions of the JLOTS [Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore] — the floating pier and the Trident pier — are complete and awaiting final movement offshore,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said at a press conference, The Times of Israel reported. (RELATED: ‘Terrible Idea’: Biden’s Gaza Aid Scheme Puts Troops At Risk To Appease Voters, Experts Say)
“Today there are still forecasted high winds and high sea swells, which are causing unsafe conditions for the JLOTS components to be moved. So the pier sections and military vessels involved in its construction are still positioned at the port of Ashdod,” the spokeswoman told the press, the Israeli news outlet noted. Singh said that the deployment of the pier will be done “in the near future,” The Times of Israel reported.
This is not the first time that bad weather has affected the project. The U.S. military paused its construction of the pier Thursday after observing forecasts for “high winds and high sea swells” that would have created “unsafe conditions” for its workers, a U.S. Central Command press release read. The engineering sites for the pier came under mortar fire briefly on April 25 by “[v]arious terrorist organizations,” according to the United Nations and Israeli officials.
President Joe Biden announced plans for the construction of the facility back on April 7 during his State of the Union address in order to offload more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. This decision appeared to be linked to the United Nations’ warnings that there was a near famine-like situation that could be afflicting around 576,000 Gazans, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). “We’re not planning for this to be an operation that would require U.S. boots on the ground,” an American official said, Politico reported. The Israeli military instead would take responsibility for the security of the pier, according to the WSJ.