US aid deliveries to Gaza by sea suspended after makeshift pier damaged

TEL AVIV — The U.S. military was forced to halt aid deliveries by sea to the Gaza Strip after its makeshift pier system off Gaza’s coast was damaged in bad weather, a United Nations official, a U.S. official and an Israeli official told NBC News.

The damage affected a causeway leading to the beach in Gaza, the officials said. Aid supplies are being brought onto the causeway in small boats after first being unloaded on the giant floating jetty. The UN official said repairs could take a week.

An official statement from the US is expected on Tuesday. The US Central Command declined to comment when asked by NBC News.

The damage is the latest setback for the temporary pier system, which President Joe Biden first announced in his State of the Union address in March and which only began operating two weeks ago.

Over the weekend, four small US military boats carrying aid were torn from their moorings in bad weather, the US Central Command said. Two of them were washed ashore on the coast of southern Israel near the city of Ashdod, while the other two were stranded in Gaza.

A U.S. soldier was also in critical condition in an Israeli hospital after suffering non-combat-related injuries on the pier last week, a U.S. defense official said. Two other soldiers suffered minor injuries.

The makeshift pier, known in military jargon as the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) facility, is designed to bring more humanitarian aid to Gaza and help avert a famine that the UN says has broken out in the north of the besieged Gaza Strip.