The Pentagon announced on Friday afternoon it was removing the humanitarian aid pier from its anchored position in Gaza for a third time in the nearly six weeks it's been operational due to high sea states expected over the weekend.
It's unclear if Central Command will re-anchor the pier once the weather conditions pass as the marshalling area ashore has become overloaded with delivered aid that's been unable to reach the people of Gaza as UN partnering organizations suspended operations due to safety concerns more than two weeks ago.
Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon's deputy press secretary, said the majority of the marshalling area is "pretty full" but it's not yet at capacity.
There's still some room there, she said.
Enabling aid distribution in Gaza
"But we do need to see that marshalling yard open up to allow for aid groups to continue that distribution so that we can get more aid in as we get from Cyprus," Singh said, noting the Pentagon and USAID has been in conversation with the UN and World Food Program. "We want to see that distribution pick back up."
Since President Joe Biden announced the creation of the pier in March the Pentagon has maintained it was meant to supplement the aid entering Gaza through land routes.
In the meantime while aid is not flowing the way it should through the land crossings, we're going to continue moving aid over the pier, she added.
Since it became operational on May 17, Singh said over 19 million pounds of aid have been delivered to the shore in Gaza though she directed questions on the amount of aid that's reached people in need to USAID and the UN.
Out of its six weeks of operation, the pier was offline for about two due to repairs and weather conditions.
Regardless, Singh called the pier successful and the US military's involvement in it heroic as the US is not responsible for distribution.
"The distribution efforts are being done by WFP and the UN. These groups put a pause in place," Singh said. "They're doing an assessment so that they can continue their own operations."
"90 million pounds is still not nothing," she added.
A spokesperson for the UN did not comment on the pier during its daily briefing on Friday.