The US military has completed construction of a temporary man-made port to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip by sea, but cannot put it in place for now due to adverse weather conditions, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

In the face of delays and obstacles raised by Israel in the delivery of humanitarian aid through land routes to the Palestinian enclave, US President Joe Biden announced in early March a plan to build a temporary artificial port.

Construction costs were expected to be around $320 million.

“The construction of the two sections of the artificial harbor (…) is finished” and now it remains to move them to the place where they will be placed, Sabrina Sig, deputy spokeswoman for the US Department of Defense, told accredited reporters.

There were “strong winds and high waves” yesterday, making it “dangerous” to place these elements in the designated spot, he explained.

The artificial harbor and US warships involved in the operation to build it “are still in the port of Ashdod,” in Israel, he noted.

Work was moved to Ashdod due to weather conditions last week. Weather permitting, the port will be placed on the coast of the enclave by Israeli military personnel to prevent the deployment of US forces.

In addition, Washington described as “unacceptable” the closure by the Israeli armed forces of two of the most important checkpoints from which humanitarian aid enters the enclave, Rafa and Kerem Shalom, through the mouth of a White House representative.

“The crossing points that were closed must be reopened, it is unacceptable that they were closed,” said Karin Jean-Pierre, who said Kerem Shalom is expected to reopen today.

The war broke out on October 7, when members of Hamas’ military wing launched an unprecedented raid on southern parts of the Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally by AFP based on official Israeli data.

In Israel’s large-scale military operation in the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip with the declared goal of “annihilating” Hamas, at least 34,789 people, most of them civilians, have lost their lives to date, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement’s health ministry.