U.S completes construction of Gaza aid pier

The U.S military has finished building its Gaza aid pier, but weather conditions make it unsafe to transfer the two-part facility into place, the Pentagon announced.

The dock, which the US military began building last month and would cost at least $320 million, is intended to increase deliveries of badly needed humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip, which has been decimated by an Israeli military onslaught lasting over seven months.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said the construction
of the two portions of the JLOTS – the floating pier and the Trident pier – are complete and awaiting final movement offshore.

“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,” in Israel, Singh said.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) “stands by to move the pier into position in the near future,” she added.

The vessels and the under-construction pier were moved to the port due to bad weather last week.

Aid will then be transported via commercial vessels to a floating platform off the Gaza coast, where it will be transferred to smaller vessels, brought to the pier, and taken to land by truck for distribution.

Israel began waging a war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, carrying out an air and ground offensive in the densely-populated enclave.

At least 34,844 Palestinians have been killed since, with thousands more feared to be trapped under rubble.