The pier built by the US military to bring aid to Gaza is being removed to protect it from bad weather, and the US is considering not re-installing it unless aid begins flowing out into the population again, several US officials said on Friday.

While the military has helped deliver desperately needed food through the pier, the vast majority of it is still sitting in the adjacent storage yard because of the difficulty that agencies have had moving it to areas in Gaza where it is most needed, and that storage area is almost full.

The pier has been instrumental in getting more than 15 million pounds, or 6.8 million kilogrammes, of food into Gaza but has faced multiple setbacks.

Rough seas damaged the pier just days into its initial operations, but the bigger challenge has been that humanitarian convoys have stopped carrying the aid from the pier’s storage area further into Gaza, to get it into civilians’ hands, because they have come under attack.

The US officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements.