The US completes construction of a humanitarian pier off the coast of Gaza

The Pentagon said Tuesday that the US has completed construction of a temporary pier to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

When fully operational, the pier can deliver up to 150 truckloads of aid per day.

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said during Tuesday’s briefing that the Trident portion of the pier, a 1,800-foot-long causeway of interconnected modular sections, was completed as part of the U.S. military’s Joint Logistics Over-the-Age -Shore (JLOTS) mission. The floating pier section was completed last week.

Singh said the Trident Pier “is the part that will eventually be anchored to the Gaza coast.”

Construction of the pier began late last month as pressure increased to provide more humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians caught up in Israel’s war against Iran-backed Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Soldiers from the Army’s 7th Transportation Brigade at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia, and sailors from Naval Beach Group 1 at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in California have been involved in the construction and deployment of the pier, the Pentagon said in a news release. About 1,000 soldiers and sailors are involved in the operation.

Singh said sea conditions, which prompted a construction pause by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Friday, are not yet conducive to connecting the pier to the mainland.

“High winds and high sea waves are forecast today, causing unsafe conditions for moving the JLOTS components,” Singh said. “So the pier sections and military ships involved in the construction are still in the port of Ashdod” in northern Gaza.

Singh said that while CENTCOM is ready to move the pier into position, humanitarian aid will be loaded onto the cargo ship MV Sagamore, which is anchored in Cyprus.

“The Sagamore will use the JLOTS system and make voyages between Cyprus and the floating offshore pier as USAID and other partners raise aid from around the world,” Singh said. “Aid delivered to the floating pier will then be offloaded onto US military logistics support ships and then transported to the Trident pier, or causeway, where it will be loaded onto trucks for onward delivery and distribution by humanitarian NGOs staff.”

Until the pier is in place, the Pentagon said it will continue humanitarian assistance through air drops in Gaza. On Sunday, two US Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft dropped more than 25,000 ready-to-eat meals in northern Gaza.