Top US Republican lawmaker calls for Gaza pier to be shut, replaced by land routes

A senior US Republican lawmaker has called on US President Joe Biden's administration to shut down the Gaza pier and focus on moving aid into the besieged enclave by land.

"I urge the administration to immediately cease this failed operation before further catastrophe occurs and consider alternative means of land and air-based humanitarian aid delivery," Republican Congressman Mike Rogers wrote in a letter sent to the Biden administration according to Reuters.

Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, complained that the pier - which cost $230m - is a waste of taxpayer money and has put US lives in danger, according to Reuters. The letter was sent to White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The pier was announced with fanfare by the Biden administration but now the US is considering temporarily dismantling and relocating it. Rights groups and Palestinians have criticised it as a costly distraction from the immediate need to press Israel to open more land routes into Gaza.

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