The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, announced that the U.S. military will be closing down its Gaza humanitarian aid pier in the near future.
During a press briefing on July 11, Mr. Sullivan stated, “I’ll let CENTCOM speak about their plans with respect to the pier, but I do anticipate that in relatively short order, we will wind down pier operations.”
Since its establishment in mid-May, the U.S. military has had to suspend operations at the pier and relocate it to the Israeli port city of Ashdod three times due to inclement weather conditions.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed the decision to shut down the pier.
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The Epoch Times reached out to CENTCOM for further comment on the timeline. CENTCOM declined to provide a direct comment on the matter.
In his statement, Maj. Gen. Ryder mentioned that an attempt was made to re-anchor the pier to the Gaza shoreline on July 10, but due to technical and weather challenges, the effort was abandoned.
There is currently no set date for another re-anchoring, and the pier, support vessels, and equipment will remain in Ashdod until further notice.
The U.S. Agency for International Development’s inspector general announced plans to review the aid distribution in the Gaza Strip once offloaded from the pier.
Both Mr. Sullivan and Maj. Gen. Ryder expressed that the temporary pier operation had been successful, with nearly 20 million pounds of humanitarian supplies delivered to Gaza.
“I see any result that produces more food, more humanitarian goods, getting to the people of Gaza, as a success,” Mr. Sullivan commented.
The decision to wind down the pier mission is based on the belief that there are now enough open supply routes to the Gaza Strip. The focus will now shift to improving aid distribution channels within the area.
“The real issue right now is not about getting aid into Gaza. It’s about getting aid around Gaza effectively,” Mr. Sullivan emphasized.
He also mentioned that Israeli forces are periodically pausing military operations to facilitate aid distribution within the embattled territory.
