Parts of the Biden administration’s $230 million floating Gaza “humanitarian pier” washed up at Tel Aviv’s Frishman Beach on Saturday.
Israel’s Channel 12 News shared a picture of an engraved panel found by beachgoers that read, “Manufactured by The Loma Company Carencro, Louisiana U.S.A. U.S. Patent 5,653,551.”
According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the part belongs to a “reusable mat system for the construction of load-bearing surfaces, such as temporary roadways and equipment support surfaces, over unstable or unsubstantial terrain.”
Municipal inspectors collected the scraps, which were transferred to the Israel Police and Israel Defense Forces.
The temporary pier that the U.S. military anchored to the Gaza Strip last month to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians amid the war with Hamas has been beset by problems.
The pier was removed to Ashdod earlier this month ahead of an expected storm—the second time such a measure was required due to weather—and was expected to be anchored back in place last week, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said on June 18.
Asked about reports that the pier could be removed for good in July, Ryder said, “The pier is a temporary measure. I don’t have any dates to announce, in terms of when it will cease operations.”
“Of course, as I just mentioned, we’re looking forward to getting it operational again soon and to delivering aid,” the spokesman added. “We’re going to capitalize on the conditions, you know, in terms of weather, to get as much aid across that pier as we can.”
In the first week after the pier became operational, some three-fourths of the humanitarian aid transported from the dock was stolen by unspecified Palestinian actors while en route to a U.N. warehouse.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced the pier idea on March 7 in his State of the Union address. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant welcomed the initiative, saying it would help collapse Hamas.
