US forced to halt Gaza aid deliveries after Biden admin’s $320 million ‘floating pier’ starts to sink
Fox News
The U.S. was forced to suspend the delivery of aid to its temporary “floating pier” on the coast of Gaza on Tuesday after rough weather caused the structure to break apart.
Four vessels that had stabilized the pier broke off due to choppy waters earlier this week, but officials said the pier was still operational. That is no longer the case as of Tuesday, officials confirmed to Fox News Digital. The U.S. did not offer a timeline for how long repairs would take.
A U.N. official said the repairs would take at least a week, however, according to NBC News.
President Biden’s administration spent roughly $320 million constructing the massive, floating dock. It was operational for barely a week before the damage occurred.
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Of the four stabilizing vessels that detached earlier this week, two of the boats floated northward and landed on a beach in Ashdod, Israel, while the two others remain anchored at the beach near the pier.
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While the pier has been used to transfer roughly 569 metric tons of aid into Gaza, none of that aid had been delivered to Palestinians as of last week, the Pentagon confirmed.
The pier’s failure comes as Israel conducted a sizable operation in Rafah, with tanks rolling into the heart of the city for the first time since the war began.
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The tanks were spotted near Al-Awda mosque, a central Rafah landmark, the witnesses told Reuters. The Israel Defense Forces said its operations in the city continue in the Rafah area but did not comment on whether its forces advanced to the city center.
Witnesses in Rafah told Reuters the Israeli military appeared to be using remote-operated armored vehicles, as there was no immediate sign of personnel in or around them. The IDF did not comment on those reports.
Israeli tanks have probed the edges of Rafah since the IDF took control of the border crossing with Egypt three weeks ago but had not yet entered the city in full force.