The floating pier project was announced by President Biden in March, with administration officials forecasting that it would allow for up to 2 million meals per day to reach starving Palestinians caught in the crossfire between Israeli military forces and Hamas militants.

The president, speaking then during his State of the Union address, said the scope of suffering and starvation in Gaza made the U.S. mission a moral necessity, and he stressed that no U.S. troops would go ashore — seemingly attempting to find a tenuous balance between putting Americans in harm’s way and idly standing by as famine compounded the war’s civilian toll.

But once underway, the operation, with an estimated cost of $230 million, faced myriad complications. Consistently rough seas battered and damaged the structure, forcing it to halt operations again and again. Crucially, the aid groups expected to distribute the food once it reached land were reluctant to do so, citing persistent fears for their workers’ safety as the war’s staggering number of civilian casualties has continued to climb.

The operation has delivered about 20 million pounds of food ashore since it began May 17 — a fraction of what humanitarian groups say is needed as Israeli officials have resisted U.S. and international demands to let more aid into Gaza by land.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.