The US military had to halt its project to build a pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid due to bad weather, the Pentagon said on Friday.
U.S. Central Command officials “temporarily halted the offshore assembly of the floating pier” off the coast of Gaza after high winds and sea waves caused unsafe conditions for soldiers working on the surface of the partially constructed bridge, the command said in a statement.
“The partially constructed pier and the military ships involved in its construction have been transferred to the port of Ashdod” in Israel, where assembly will continue.
About 1,000 American military personnel are helping to build the floating pier in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Gaza, a project that the Pentagon initially estimated would cost $320 million.
Announced during President Biden’s State of the Union address in March, the structure will consist of an 1,800-foot-long elevated bridge that will be attached to the coast and is intended to support the U.S. government and its partners in obtaining more humanitarian aid. to civilians in the territory.
Authorities had hoped to complete work on the pier by the end of this week, but unsafe seas will likely delay it for several days.
Once operational, the pier is expected to initially support 90 trucks of humanitarian aid to Gaza per day and increase to around 150 trucks per day.
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