The US military said it would temporarily relocate its portable pier used to assist aid shipments into Gaza, noting it would be moved to Ashdod, Israel, during the present bout of rough weather. The decision comes after the United Nations paused its work with the pier due to security concerns linked to a recent Israeli commando raid.
US Central Command announced the move in a press release on Friday, stating that relocating the pier would “prevent structural damage caused by the heightened sea state” and ensure future aid deliveries. It added that the pier would be “rapidly re-anchored” along the Gaza coast as soon as possible, but offered no timeline for when that might occur.
According to Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, aid destined for Gaza will be held in a staging area on shore while the pier is moved.
The decision was likely prompted after poor weather caused at least $22 million in damage to the floating pier earlier this month, forcing the military to tow the structure to Ashdod for repairs. The pier is reportedly not capable of taking on waves larger than two feet.
The latest CENTCOM announcement came days after the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) said it would pause all operations involving the US-supplied pier to conduct a security review, citing a June 8 Israeli military raid in the area which left more than 270 Palestinians dead. The assault successfully freed four hostages held by Hamas but saw IDF troops depart by helicopter from a site near the makeshift pier. Tel Aviv and Washington insist that the pier played no role in the raid, but the incident nonetheless stoked concerns about the security and neutrality of the aid effort.
“You can be damn sure we are going to be very careful about what we assess and what we conclude,” UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said of the WFP security review. He added that if the agency found that Israel had used the beach or roads around the pier improperly, it would “put at risk any future humanitarian engagement in that operation.”
A UN spokesman clarified earlier on Friday that the WFP was still unable to resume its activities with the pier, saying the org was “still working to ensure that secure conditions for humanitarian work can be re-established.”
With virtually all major aid corridors into Gaza either closed or under heavy Israeli restrictions, food supplies in the territory have dropped to dangerous levels. On Friday, WFP deputy director Carl Skau warned that the situation in southern Gaza had become especially dire, as IDF troops press on with a major attack on the city of Rafah – home to some 1.2 million Palestinian refugees.
Will Porter is assistant news editor at the Libertarian Institute and a regular contributor at Antiwar.com. Find more of his work at Consortium News and ZeroHedge.
What a waste of money.
In what regard Tim?… A waste of money?……
It was a waste of money when it was launched in 2007, that's why the military never uses it. Can't help but think that they sent it hoping that Hamas or the IDF would sink it so they could get that piece of junk out of inventory. Like the Bradleys that they parked in the desert because they recognized that the things were death traps, they've been dumping them in Ukraine to get rid of them.
Which means the Army Corps of Engineers has sunk to the abyss, as well as our manufacturing prowess, unless it is killing machines being manufactured.
Engineering and manufacture of US "killing machines" tends to suck these days also. Those 777 Howitzers cost a fortune both to build and maintain, but can't take a licking in real combat. US arty costs about 3 to 4x Russian. Greed is always good and the best incentive for helping others willing to die for conquest–to die.
m777'S had a unit cost of $3.7M as of 2017; the howitzer they replaced- the M198- had a unit cost of just over $527K. Both are 155mm, they do the same job. WTF
One does a better job at enriching the MIC.
That's what counts!
Thanks to Donald Rumsfeld, who privatized everything in the military that he could so that it would be more expensive, less efficient, and function worse. The Libertardian poison has spread throughout the government now, for example where US Marines used to guard embassies and the more important consulates now they’re
mercenary scum“private military contractors”. Even some of the military bases are guarded by mercenaries rather than their own troops. SMDHI wouldn't call Rumsfeld's policies "Libertardian," or even Libertarian. They've basically been upheld for the past 23 years anyway. In fact, this kind of whacko military cost overriding is exactly what sort of thing libertarians would hope to get rid of. Since all we human beings are hostages to the nuclear powers.
Gaslighting the American people doesn’t come cheap.
Gaslighting via cost plus contracts.
I am surprised China has Not yet been criticized for providing bad pier parts to Pentagon…!
The Palestinians are wise to the trojan horse method now.
Perfidy, is what it was.
Exactly!
This piece of junk was built in Wisconsin, I'll guarantee they get waves bigger than two feet in their harbor. They knew it was crap when they contracted for it in 2003, they confirmed it was crap when it was launched in 2007, and it's been in storage since 2013 since it's such a piece of crap. Let's hope it sinks in the Ashod harbor and blocks it permanently.
Just like the Trojan Horse, it served it's purpose and is now headed to the scrap yard
"The US military said it would temporarily relocate its portable pier used to assist aid shipments into Gaza, noting it would be moved to Ashdod, Israel, during the present bout of rough weather. The decision comes after the United Nations paused its work with the pier due to security concerns linked to a recent Israeli commando raid." In other words, Operation Starve the Palestinian Children is proceeding as planned.
They are re-enforcing the pier in Ashdod obviously with the help of Israel to handle more of IDF heavy weapons and arms to be transported in disguised fake aid trucks, and to slaughter more Palestinians on the title of freeing more hostages…!
Operation Destroy Their Health and Their Futures Without Killing Them
This is such BS. Our close ally Israel has a dozen piers, in full size ports! These are underused at the moment due to trade issues and the Houthis. But we can't use those piers even after providing Israel with billions of dollar in additional aid? And trucks full of aid from the Arab world are in long lines because Israel restricts the number that can enter each day.
There's also another pier in Gaza already, built of the shattered fragments of the buildings that the IDF have bombed. The Israelis won't allow the aid agencies to use it, insisting that all aid allowed into the concentration camp has to pass their inspections.
War Update, Tel Aviv: Palestinian Genocide progressing according to plan.
I have come to despise the Israeli (so-called) government.
Not one mouth was fed not one sip of water given from the aid that atrrived through that pier. How is it possible?
But 1 trojan horse operation completed, rescuing 4 colonists at the cost of only a couple hundred natives! Resounding success!
This is perfect. The dismantling and moving will buy both sides another long period of 'waiting' to start supplying aid. Then a couple of weeks will be spent evaluating the new weather patterns, followed by a week or two needed to reassemble the would-be humanitarian aid pier. And then? Oh dear. Bad weather. Or too dangerous in light of the new offensive. No matter. A month, two months or more. Another win-win plan.
Apparently , it was merely to "look good" in the first place.
In other words "The pier served it's purpose as part of Operation Trojan Horse to extract 4 hostages and massacre a couple hundred Palestinians. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming"
CENTCOM – run by morons, like the rest of the US military.
"… The pier is [reportedly] not capable of taking on waves larger than two feet. …", this claim is without attribution. Such is the state of "journalism, reporting and news aggragating."
As a fellow who has traveled, and surfed (the few, but sometimes great spots -Morocco) from one end to the other of the Mediterranean Sea! I fine this assertion to be completely and utterly lacking in reason, logic and common sense.
Simply, not credible.
dennis hanna
If War with Hezbollah breaks out, that pier will be a target. U.S. is just cutting their losses now.