Construction of temporary pier off Gaza coast
Construction of temporary pier off Gaza coastReuters

The US military-built pier designed to carry aid into Gaza by boat has been reconnected to the beach after a section broke apart in storms and rough seas, US Central Command announced Friday, according to The Associated Press.

The section that connects to the beach in Gaza, the causeway, was rebuilt nearly two weeks after heavy storms damaged it and abruptly halted what had already been a troubled delivery route.

“Earlier this morning in Gaza, US forces successfully attached the temporary pier to the Gaza beach,” Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, told reporters by phone Friday. “We expect to resume delivery of humanitarian assistance from the sea in the coming days.”

Cooper said operations at the reconnected pier will be ramped up soon with a goal to get 450,000 kilograms of food and other supplies moving through the pier into Gaza every two days.

The pier was only operational for a week before a storm broke it apart. Before it broke apart, the pier had been gradually increasing aid movement each day.

Cooper said Friday that the lessons learned from that initial week of operations made him confident higher levels of aid could be attained now, according to AP.

President Joe Biden, in his State of the Union address in March, announced the plans for the temporary pier on the coast of Gaza that would receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelter and provide aid to the Strip.

A day later, Biden said that Israel will provide security for the port he plans to build off the coast of Gaza that would provide aid to the Strip.

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)