The Biden administration’s Gaza aid pier could be dismantled months earlier than expected amid a series of growing problems, according to The New York Times.
The Biden administration initially hoped that the pier, meant to serve as a causeway for aid delivery to Gaza via a maritime corridor, would survive elemental conditions until at least September, before the seasonal sea conditions become too turbulent, the NYT reported. But a string of logistical and weather problems have plagued the pier since it was built in mid-May, and now U.S. defense officials are warning aid groups that it may be shuttered permanently by as soon as next month.
If closed by that point, the pier will have likely experienced little success in its goal of getting aid to the Palestinians; it has only been operational for roughly 10 days in the month since it was constructed, according to the NYT.
“Supplies from the pier aren’t flowing to Palestinians, and never really have,” Stephen Semler, a national security expert at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote in an essay last week. “The reality is that the [pier] is not working, at least not for Palestinians.”
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