The Defense Department is unhooking the temporary pier it set up in Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to desperate Palestinians following what a Pentagon spokeswoman on Tuesday said was a “perfect storm” of rough seas and weather that caused serious damage to the structure.
Some sections of the floating pier disconnected as a result of the storm early Tuesday, damaging the remaining sections still anchored on the Gaza coast. The latest mishap comes just after four U.S. military vessels were beached after losing power over the weekend. Two of them washed up on the coast of southern Israel near the city of Ashdod while the others beached in Gaza.
“Over the next 48 hours, the Trident Pier will be removed from its anchored position on the coast and towed back to Ashdod where U.S. Central Command will conduct repairs,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said, the latest blow to an initiative touted by President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as a way to get humanitarian aid into Gaza even as the war between Israel and Hamas militants shows little sign of easing.
The Associated Press, citing local emergency workers and hospital officials, reported Tuesday that Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight and on Tuesday, targeting the same area where Israeli strikes triggered a deadly fire days earlier in a camp for displaced Palestinians.
The tent camp incident has drawn widespread international criticism, including from some of Israel’s longtime allies, over the military’s expanding offensive into Rafah. Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognized a Palestinian state on Tuesday.
The Biden administration has warned against a full-fledged offensive in the city, but State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Tuesday gave no indication the U.S. sees Israel as crossing any of its “red lines” for Rafah, saying the offensive is still on a “far different” scale than assaults on other population centers in Gaza, the AP reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead in Rafah, where many Palestinians ousted from other parts of Gaza have taken refuge, saying remaining Hamas fighting units must be dismantled and hostages still held by the militants must be freed.
Repairs to the damaged pier will take at least a week. It will then need to be re-anchored to the coast of Gaza before humanitarian assistance can resume, Ms. Singh told reporters on Tuesday.
The weather-related damages are only the latest setback for the $320 million pier, which only began operations over the past two weeks.
The temporary pier was announced in March by Mr. Biden as a way to augment humanitarian relief into the Gaza Strip.
The Defense Department said the temporary pier has allowed the U.S. to deliver more than 1,000 tons of international aid to Gaza before it was damaged due to the weather. Ms. Singh acknowledged that the weather and high seas off the coast of Gaza created “not an optimal environment” for humanitarian operations there.
The Israeli Navy is working with U.S. officials to try and free the beached military vessels and help with the damaged pier. But the Defense Department acknowledged that the floating pier and accompanying air drops of supplies into Gaza aren’t enough to stave off a mounting humanitarian crisis in the densely populated Palestinian enclave.
“The most efficient way to get aid in [to Gaza] would be through land routes. We are seeing more land crossings opening up,” Ms. Singh said. “We need to see those crossing continue to open up to allow more trucks in.”
— This article was based in part on wire service dispatches.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.