Vice Adm Brad Cooper, deputy commander at US Central Command, told reporters in a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday that the pier had achieved its intended effect in what he called an “unprecedented operation”.

Critics call the pier a $230m boondoggle that failed to bring in the level of aid needed to stem a looming famine. The US military, however, has maintained that it served as the best hope as aid only trickled in during a critical time of near-famine in Gaza and that it got close to 20m lbs (9m kgs) of desperately needed supplies to Palestinians.

Aid groups slammed the US military pier as a distraction, saying the US should have instead pressured Israel to open more land crossings and allow the aid to flow more quickly and efficiently through them.