Biden-era Gaza aid pier: A costly mission with hidden injuries

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 May 2025 17:36

A Pentagon watchdog report reveals dozens of previously undisclosed US troop injuries tied to the short-lived Gaza aid pier mission.

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The image provided by US Central Command shows US Army soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), US Navy sailors assigned to Amphibious Construction Battalion 1, and Israeli occupation forces placing the Trident Pier on the coast of the Gaza Strip, on May 16, 2024 (US Central Command via AP, File)

A long-buried cost of Joe Biden’s much-hyped Gaza aid pier has finally surfaced: more than 60 US service members were injured, not the three previously acknowledged by the Pentagon. This revelation, buried in a Tuesday release from the Pentagon’s own Inspector General, casts a shadow over what was once billed as a humanitarian breakthrough but increasingly looks like a botched military PR operation.

The floating pier, championed by Biden in a 2024 State of the Union speech as a lifeline to Palestinians trapped in a war zone, has become emblematic of the White House’s wavering Gaza policy, part moral gesture, part political gymnastics. It cost American taxpayers over $230 million, required 1,000 troops to assemble, and ran for a mere 20 days before weather and logistics forced its retreat.

'A floating photo op'

Critics, particularly from within Republican ranks, had derided the pier as a “floating photo op” from the start. But it was Biden’s own Defense Department that has now confirmed what many in Congress feared: the mission lacked sufficient planning, equipment standards, and operational training. The IG report bluntly stated the military “did not meet the standards for the equipment” and failed to prepare troops according to joint-force requirements.

Discrepancy in injury reporting

Most damning is the discrepancy in injury reporting. While the public was told of just three injuries, one critical, this new report details 62 injuries linked to the pier project, a figure the Pentagon appears to have suppressed or underestimated. The report hedges slightly, noting that it couldn’t determine how many occurred on duty versus off-duty, but the optics are unavoidable: the price for this "humanitarian mission" was higher, bloodier, and more chaotic than Biden’s team let on.

Meanwhile, humanitarian concerns inside Gaza remain dire. The UN and Palestinian legal representatives continue to accuse "Israel" of violating international law by choking off aid.

In hindsight, the pier stands not just as a $230 million metal scaffold to nowhere, but a symbol of America’s conflicted Gaza strategy, caught between strategic allegiance to "Israel" and mounting pressure from the Global South, human rights advocates, and its own divided electorate.