The US-built pier in Gaza broke apart. Here’s how we got here and what the next step could be

WASHINGTON (AP) — A series of security, logistics and weather problems have undermined the plan to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a pier built by the U.S. military.

Just over a week after it became operational, shattered by high winds and heavy seas, the project is facing criticism that it has failed to live up to its initial bill and $320 million price tag.

However, US officials say the steel causeway connecting to the beach in Gaza and the floating pier will be repaired and reassembled at a port in southern Israel, then reinstalled and operational again next week .

Although early Pentagon estimates suggested the pier, when fully operational, could deliver up to 150 truckloads of aid per day, that has yet to happen. Bad weather has hampered progress in getting aid into Gaza from the pier, while the Israeli offensive in the southern city of Rafah has made it difficult, if not impossible, to get aid into the region via land routes.

Aid groups have had mixed reactions — both welcoming any aid for starving Palestinians besieged by the nearly eight-month war between Israel and Hamas and decrying the pier as a distraction that took pressure off Israel to open more border crossings open, which are far away from the border crossings. more productive.

It’s “a side issue,” said Bob Kitchen, a top official at the International Rescue Committee.

The Biden administration has said from the beginning that the pier was not intended to be a one-stop solution and that any amount of aid helps.

“No one said in the beginning that it would be a silver bullet for all the humanitarian aid problems that still exist in Gaza,” national security spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. “I think sometimes there’s an expectation from the U.S. military — because they’re so good — that everything they touch will turn to gold in the blink of an eye.”

“We knew going in that this was going to be tough stuff,” he added. “And it turns out to be a difficult task.”

Before the war, Gaza received an average of about 500 truckloads of aid per day. The U.S. Agency for International Development says it needs a steady flow of 600 trucks a day to ease the struggle for food and bring people back from the brink of famine.

The aid brought in through the pier was enough to feed thousands of people for a month, but UN data shows that this aid has barely made a dent in the overall needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.

Here’s a look at the pier’s timeline, the problems it faced and what might happen next:

MARCH 7: President Joe Biden announces his plan for the US military to build a pier during his State of the Union address.

“Tonight, I am directing the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean Sea on the coast of Gaza, where large shipments of food, water, medicine and temporary shelter can be received,” he said.

But even in those first few moments, he noted that the pier would increase the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza, but that Israel must “do its part” and let in more aid.

MARCH 8: Major General Pat Ryder, Pentagon spokesman, tells reporters it will take “up to 60 days” to deploy forces and build the project.

MARCH 12: Four U.S. Army boats loaded with tons of equipment and steel pier segments leave Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia and head to the Atlantic Ocean for what is expected to be a month-long voyage to Gaza.

The brigade’s commander, Army Col. Sam Miller, warns that transit and construction will be highly dependent on the weather and high seas they encounter.

LATE MARCH: U.S. military ships encounter high seas and rough weather as they cross the Atlantic, slowing their pace.

APRIL 1: Seven World Central Kitchen aid workers are killed in an Israeli airstrike while traveling in clearly marked vehicles on an Israeli-sanctioned delivery mission.

The strike fuels ongoing concerns about the safety of aid workers and is prompting aid agencies to suspend the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

APRIL 19: US officials confirm that the UN World Food Program has agreed to help deliver aid to Gaza via the maritime route once construction is completed.

APRIL 25: Major construction of the coastal port facility near Gaza City is taking shape. At the onshore location, aid will be delivered from the causeway and given to relief organizations.

APRIL 30: Satellite photos show the U.S. Navy ship USNS Roy P. Benavidez and Army ships working to assemble the pier and causeway about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from the shore port.

MAY 9: The US ship Sagamore is the first ship loaded with aid to leave Cyprus and head towards Gaza and eventually the pier. An extensive security and inspection station has been built in Cyprus to screen aid from a number of countries.

MAY 16: Well past the 60-day target, construction and erection of the Gaza pier and causeway attached to the coastline have been completed after more than a week of weather and other delays.

MAY 17: The first trucks carrying relief supplies for the Gaza Strip roll off the newly built pier to the secured area on the coast, where they will be unloaded and the cargo distributed to aid organizations for delivery by truck in Gaza.

May 18: Crowds of desperate Palestinians overwhelm a convoy of aid trucks coming off the pier, removing the cargo from 11 of the 16 vehicles before reaching a UN warehouse for distribution.

May 19-20: The first food from the pier – a limited number of cookies with high nutritional value – reaches people in need in central Gaza, according to the World Food Program.

Aid agencies are suspending deliveries from the pier for two days while the US works with Israel to open alternate land routes from the pier and improve security.

MAY 24: Just over 1,000 tons of aid have been delivered to Gaza through the US-built pier so far, with USAID later saying that all has been distributed within Gaza.

MAY 25: High winds and heavy seas damage the pier and beach four U.S. Army ships operating there, injuring three service members, including one in critical condition.

Two ships beached in Gaza near the foot of the pier and two grounded near Ashkelon, Israel.

MAY 28: Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh says large parts of the causeway will be pulled off the beach and moved to an Israeli port for repairs. The base of the causeway remains on the Gaza coast.

She also says the aid is being loaded onto ships in Cyprus and will be ready to be unloaded at the pier once it is back in place.

MAY 29: Two army ships that ran aground due to bad weather are now back at sea and the other two at the pier are being freed with the help of the Israeli Navy.

In the coming days, the sections of the causeway will be reassembled, and by the middle of next week they will be moved back to the Gaza coast, where the causeway will be reattached to the beach, the Pentagon says.

“If we can re-anchor the pier, you can see the aid flowing out in a pretty steady stream,” Singh said Tuesday. “We will continue to operate this temporary pier for a while. as long as we can.”

AP writer Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed.