The Pentagon said Thursday that nearly half of the troops it deployed to the Mediterranean as part of the mission to deliver aid to Gaza via a temporary pier are either home or will be home shortly.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters that 235 soldiers returned to Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia earlier this month, and another roughly 100 are expected to return in the coming days. Singh also said that 209 sailors returned home to California last week.
In all, the more than 500 troops represent about half of the total forces who were deployed in the spring on a mission that aimed to bring more aid into war-torn Gaza but ended up becoming a point of controversy and a political lightning rod as it was repeatedly disrupted.
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According to Singh, the remaining forces are still working on delivering the approximately 6 million pounds of remaining aid to the Palestinian people.
“We expect all personnel and equipment to be coming home by mid-September, as soon as that aid is distributed,” Singh told reporters Thursday.
The pier, known as Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, began operations in May with the expectation of delivering up to 150 trucks of food, or 2,000,000 meals per day. But weather delays limited the number of days it was actually able to function and, shortly after the pier began operating, Pentagon officials shifted to…
