The United States military's temporary pier system off the coast of the Gaza Strip has been damaged by bad weather, forcing the suspension of aid deliveries by sea, according to sources from the United Nations, the U.S. government, and Israel.
A causeway attached to the beach in Gaza, where small boats take the aid after it is initially unloaded on the floating dock, has been damaged, and the U.N. official tells NBC News that the structure could take at least a week to repair.
U.S. Central Command has declined to comment, but an official announcement is expected later Tuesday.
The damages are the latest setback to the $320 million pier system, first announced in March by President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address.
There have been several issues at the pier since it went into operation two weeks ago.
This past weekend, two U.S. military boats that were being used to ferry the aid broke loose from the pier's moorings. Two washed up on the southern Israel coast near the city of Ashdod, and the other beached in Gaza.
In addition, a member of the U.S. military is in critical condition in Israel after having suffered non-combat injuries last week on the pier, with two other service members receiving minor injuries on the pier, known as a Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) structure.
Meanwhile, there are some reports that the floating pier system, placed to transport humanitarian aid to the Gaza territory in hopes of averting a famine in the region amidst the Israel-Hamas war, may even be "sinking," reports Newsweek.
The Israeli Defense Forces posted a video Monday showing that the pier is "sinking in the water," with a soldier shooting the video commenting that "this is what happens when you help the enemy."
Columnist and author Caroline Glick also posted a picture of the pier on X and commented that "The Biden pier in Gaza is sinking into the sea....($320m sinking along with it...)."
Already, the pier's $320 million price tag is double its original estimate, and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, commented that the pier was a "dangerous effort with marginal benefit."
It was not clear if the images were linked to the U.S. ships being disconnected from the pier Saturday, notes Newsweek.
U.S. Central Command Deputy Commander Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said last week that deliveries from the pier into Gazan warehouses were hindered after Hamas set a drone attack against the IDF, and also because some of the aid trucks were looted while transporting goods.
The U.S. Agency for International Development said last week that more than 500 metric tons of aid were offloaded.