The US-built temporary pier taking humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians has been damaged in rough seas and weather and will be removed from the coast of Gaza to be repaired, the Pentagon has said.

Spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters on Tuesday that the pier will be pulled out over the next two days and sent to the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, where US Central Command will repair it.

She said the fixes will take “at least over a week” and then the pier will need to be anchored back into the beach in Gaza.

The pier is one of the few ways that food, water and other supplies are getting to Palestinians who the UN says are on the brink of famine amid the nearly eight-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.