In a setback for humanitarian efforts in Gaza, the U.S.-built temporary pier, used to deliver aid to the starving Palestinians, has been damaged due to rough seas and weather conditions. The Pentagon has announced that the pier will be removed from the coast of Gaza and sent for repairs in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod.

Pentagon spokesperson, Sabrina Singh, stated on Tuesday that the pier will be pulled out over the next two days and taken to Ashdod, where U.S. Central Command will carry out the necessary repairs. However, it is expected to take at least over a week to fix the damages before the pier can be anchored back into the beach in Gaza.

The pier has been an integral lifeline for the Palestinians, as it is one of the few means through which essential supplies such as food, water, and other humanitarian aid are reaching them. The United Nations has warned of an impending famine in Gaza, exacerbated by the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

The temporary pier, known as the Joint Logistics Over The Shore (JLOTS) pier, had only recently commenced operations in the past two weeks. It provided an additional route for critically needed food deliveries to Gaza. However, this recent damage adds to a series of setbacks faced by the $320 million pier.

Before this incident, the pier encountered three injuries to U.S. service members and four instances where its vessels beached due to heavy seas. Furthermore, the delivery of aid was halted for two days last week following a tragic incident where a Palestinian man was shot dead amidst crowd chaos at the aid trucks coming from the pier.

Despite these challenges, the pier had managed to deliver over 820 metric tons of food aid onto the Gaza beach by Saturday. U.S. officials have stressed that while the pier has made a positive impact, it is unable to meet the substantial needs of the starving population. They have called for the opening of more checkpoints for humanitarian trucks, emphasizing the importance of land crossings to support the remaining 1.8 million people in Gaza.

In addition to the pier deliveries, the U.S. military had also planned to continue providing airdrops of food. However, with the Israeli offensive in the city of Rafah preventing aid shipments through the crossing, there are significant challenges in getting aid to its intended recipients. Israeli military operations have also made it difficult for humanitarian organizations to retrieve aid from the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

The damage to the U.S.-built temporary pier underscores the urgent need for efficient and secure methods of delivering aid to the Palestinians in Gaza. Efforts are being made to repair the pier as quickly as possible, but in the meantime, alternative solutions must be explored to ensure that the critical needs of the population are met during this dire humanitarian crisis.