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US-Built Gaza Humanitarian Aid Pier Repairs Cost at Least $22 Million
A US soldier leaves a cordoned-off area as other troops work on a beached vessel, used for delivering aid to Palestinians via a new US-built pier in Gaza, after it got stuck trying to help another vessel behind it, on the Mediterranean coast in Ashdod, Israel, May 25, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The newly repaired humanitarian aid pier off the Gaza coast reportedly cost American taxpayers at least $22 million.
Choppy seas shredded the pier to pieces last month, hindering efforts to transport additional humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave ruled by the Palestinian terror group Hamas. American servicemen then immediately began repairing the pier, whose construction was pushed by US President Joe Biden earlier this year, in the Israeli port city of Ashdod.
While rebuilding the structure, US military officials assessed that the total cost in repairs might run up to $28 million, the Washington Post reported. Nonetheless, the Pentagon decreased the pier’s expected overall cost from $320 million to $230 million, citing low costs for contracted vehicles, drivers, and the loan of a British military ship.
Sabrina Singh, a US military spokeswoman, shared that the overall cost of the pier could change, “depending on the length of the mission and future costs,” such as the need for additional repairs. Singh added on Wednesday that the pier is expected to complete repairs and resume operations “at the end of the week.”
On Friday, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, confirmed that the pier has been completely repaired and is ready to receive aid shipments.
“I’m very pleased to announce that earlier this morning, in Gaza, US forces successfully attached the temporary pier to the Gaza beach. Israeli Defense Force engineers provided all the necessary support to ensure the safe emplacement of the pier to the beach,” Cooper told reporters.
“We anticipate that our goal will be to deliver 500,000 pounds over the beach initially and then ramp that up soon thereafter,” Cooper added.
The Biden administration greenlighted the construction of the pier in March to hasten the influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The administration cited the deteriorating conditions and a potential famine in the enclave amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas. Though Israel has received international condemnation over the humanitarian condition in Gaza, Egypt has blocked its side of the Rafah crossing, slowing the flow of aid to Palestinian civilians.
The pier has been a target for intense scrutiny since its construction. Critics argue that the pier has unnecessarily endangered American servicemen, citing critical injuries of US soldiers assigned to work on the structure. They also claim that any aid delivered across the pier is likely to end up in the hands of Hamas, which has long been accused of stealing aid meant for Gazan civilians.
So far, the pier has been ineffective in alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. None of the 569 metric tons of aid delivered on the pier has been distributed to Palestinian civilians, according to the Pentagon. Trucks carrying humanitarian aid were ransacked and stripped clean by looters before reaching their destinations.
The post US-Built Gaza Humanitarian Aid Pier Repairs Cost at Least $22 Million first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.