“Does the President still believe that the temporary pier is a viable platform to get aid into Gaza?” a reporter asked at the regular White House briefing as the US military prepared to detach and move the storm-battered $US320 million ($484 million) floating dock to the Israeli city of Ashdod for repairs.

“Absolutely, as a supplement,” Mr Kirby replied, despite the pier closing after only about 10 days as Israel fights Hamas terrorists in their final bastion of Rafah.

“It was never intended to supplant what you can do on the ground, through trucks and getting those crossings open — we said that from the get-go,” Mr Kirby insisted — despite the facility being a signature announcement in Mr Biden’s annual speech to Congress on March 7.

“We also said it’s going to be tough. It’s been tough. Weather plays a role. I mean, Mother Nature has a say here. And the Eastern Med, even in the summertime can be a pretty rough place, and that’s what’s happening right now,” Mr Kirby went on.

“But can it be a force multiplier? Can it add to? Absolutely, and I think they’ve so far gotten more than a thousand metric tons in just off the temporary pier alone.”

The spokesman said that the pier has had “an impressive record so far”, even though USAID initially estimated that the pier would unload between 290 million tons and 750 million tons per day.

Last week, meanwhile, the Pentagon admitted that none of the estimated 569 metric tons of aid had been delivered to Palestinian civilians, but had been “intercepted” by looters and terrorist groups.

Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Tuesday that repairs to the pier will take “at least over a week”.

High seas and a North African weather system had caused a section of the pier to come away on Tuesday morning, she told reporters.

“The rebuilding and repairing of the pier will take at least over a week, and, following completion, will need to be re-anchored to the coast 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 damage is the latest setback to the pier, which opened two weeks ago.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Saturday four US Army vessels supporting the pier broke free from their moorings and ran aground in heavy seas.

Two beached in Gaza while the other two washed up on the coast of Israel, 50 kilometres south of Tel Aviv. One has been recovered and the other three will be brought back in within 48 hours, Ms Singh said.

Gaza is suffering through its bloodiest ever war, which broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,800 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Israel has imposed a siege on Gaza that has deprived the territory’s 2.4 million people of most clean water, food, medicines and fuel.

Mr Biden had said in March the pier would be built to alleviate restrictions imposed by Israel on aid delivery by land to Gaza.

Mr Biden announced the pier as he faced increasing criticism from fellow Democrats about the impact of Israel’s invasion on more than two million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.

“Tonight, I’m directing the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters,” Mr Biden told lawmakers in a joint session of Congress.

“No US boots will be on the ground. This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.”

CENTCOM said 1005 metric tons of aid had been delivered from the sea to the beach transfer point as of Friday, with 903 metric tons distributed from the transfer point to the UN warehouse.

— with AFP

This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission