US Pier for Aid to Gaza Breaks Apart in Heavy Seas
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The temporary floating pier built by the US military to transport humanitarian aid into Gaza broke apart in heavy seas on Tuesday. Thousands of tons of aid that were due to come into the enclave via the pier remain blocked in Cyprus while repairs are made to get the maritime corridor up and running again.
Titled Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS), the pier cost the United States $320 million and began operating on May 17. According to a report by CNN, the pier can only be operated safely in a maximum of 3-foot waves and winds less than approximately 15 miles per hour.
In a statement to reporters, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said Tuesday that the pier will be taken in parts to the Israeli port of Ashdod where US Central Command will carry out repairs on individual sections of it. “Unfortunately, we had a perfect storm of high sea states,” Singh said.
“Army engineers are putting the pier back together, and the Defense Department hopes it will be fully operational in just a little over a week,” Singh said.
The United Nations World Food Program reported that, prior to the collapse of the pier, 137 trucks of aid – the equivalent of 900 metric tons – had been brought into Gaza over it.
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