US completes construction of Gaza aid pier

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US has completed the construction of a temporary floating pier for humanitarian aid delivery into the Gaza Strip, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Tuesday.

"The US military has completed the offshore construction of the Trident pier section, or the causeway, which is the component that will eventually be anchored to the Gaza shore," Sabrina Singh told reporters.

Singh said the construction of the floating pier section has also been completed.

"So 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," she said.

While the JLOTS construction is now complete, poor weather is hampering the final placement of the facility, Singh said.

"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 at the Port of Ashdod," she added.

Last week, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it had temporarily paused offshore assembly of the floating pier due to sea state considerations. It added that the partially built pier and military vessels involved in its construction had moved to the Port of Ashdod, one of Israel’s three main cargo ports north of Gaza.

The Pentagon announced on March 8 that it would undertake an emergency mission to establish the pier off the Gazan coast to deliver up to 2 million humanitarian aid meals per day.

The mission includes a floating pier -- an 1,800-foot-long causeway -- that will be attached to the shore and a group of logistic support vessels.

Israel's war on Gaza, which began after a Oct. 7 incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas, has devastated the enclave and plunged its 2.3 million people into a humanitarian catastrophe.