White House Indicates Gaza Aid Pier Mission Coming to a Close Soon

The U.S. military will soon shut down its Gaza humanitarian aid pier, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

“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,” Mr. Sullivan said during a July 11 press briefing.

Since the pier was set up in mid-May the U.S. military has had to suspend operations and relocate it to the Israeli port city of Ashdod on three separate occasions, due to concerns about poor weather.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed the plan to shut down the pier.

Related Stories

The Epoch Times reached out to CENTCOM for further comment about any specific timeline. The U.S. military command declined to offer a direct comment on the matter.

In his statement, Maj. Gen. Ryder said CENTCOM had attempted to re-anchor the pier to the Gaza shoreline on July 10, but abandoned the effort amid technical and weather-related challenges.

He said another re-anchoring date has not been set and the pier, support vessels, and other equipment will remain in Ashdod until further notice.

The inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development also announced its plans to review the aid distribution throughout the Gaza Strip once offloaded from the makeshift pier.

Mr. Sullivan and Maj. Gen. Ryder both said that the temporary pier operation had been successful.

The Pentagon spokesman said the pier has allowed nearly 20 million pounds of humanitarian supplies to be 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 said.

The president’s adviser said the decision to wind down the pier mission is based on the view that enough other supply routes are now open to the Gaza Strip.

He said the focus should now shift to improving the 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 said.

Mr. Sullivan said Israeli forces are periodically pausing military operations to enable aid distribution within the embattled territory.