Sections of the Trident pier off the Gaza coast will take at least a week to be rebuilt after being damaged on Saturday during high seas, the Pentagon said Tuesday.Four US Army vessels supporting the Gaza maritime aid mission were beached ashore after a power failure caused motorized sections of the pier used for stabilization to break free from their anchors, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said during a news briefing.One of the Army vessels beached on Israel’s coast near Ashkelon has been recovered, and a second vessel was to be recovered within the next 24 hours, she said. The remaining two vessels were expected to be recovered within the next 48 hours, she added.
The Israel Navy is assisting with the vessel recovery efforts.The pier was to be removed from its anchored position on the coast and towed back to Ashdod, where US Central Command will repair it, Singh said.
“The pier proved highly valuable in delivering aid to the people of Gaza,” she said. “Thus, upon completion of the pier repair and reassembly, the intention is to re-anchor the temporary pier to the coast of Gaza and resume humanitarian aid to the people who need it most.”The Pentagon believes it will be able to re-anchor the pier and operate without further hindrance from weather conditions, she added.The pier was not a failure because it was used to deliver 1,000 metric tons of aid to the Gazans, Singh said.“We don’t control the weather,” she said. “There was an unfortunate, unique pattern of events with high seas and another storm that came in that caused the [pier] to become inoperable during that time.“You better believe that US Central Command forces are going to do everything in their power to make sure that this is back and operational as soon as possible. This is a mission directive that was set up by the president; we take it very seriously.”White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby on Tuesday said President Joe Biden absolutely still believed the pier is a viable platform to get aid into Gaza.“It was never intended to supplant what you can do on the ground,” he said at the White House. “We’ve said that from the get-go. We also said it’s going to be tough. It’s been tough; weather plays a role.”Considering the weather and the complexity of delivering aid through the pier, it was still an impressive record of how much aid has been delivered through the pier so far, Kirby said.
Rafah
Singh said the Pentagon was still assessing whether the IDF’s operation in Rafah was limited in scope, despite reports of tank movement within the city.The Pentagon was waiting for results of Israel’s investigation into its airstrike in Rafah over the weekend, which ignited a massive fire that killed dozens of people, she said.Singh would not discuss the Pentagon’s assessment of what happened.
Weapons
Security systems were continuing to flow to Israel, she said.Singh was not able to provide a breakdown of every specific weapons systems or munitions sent to Israel since the US paused a shipment of 2,000-pound munitions earlier this month.“We did pause that shipment that included those 2,000-pound bombs,” she said. “I’m not aware that we’ve sent any more. But again, as security assistance continues to flow, they have what they need to defeat Hamas.”