An American soldier wounded during an operation on a pier in Gaza has died

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Army soldier who was in critical condition after suffering non-combat injuries while supporting a military pier off the coast of Gaza died, the U.S. military said on Monday.

Sergeant Quandarius Davon Stanley, who recently retired from military service, was seriously injured in May while supporting operations at sea at a US-built pier designed to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the U.S. Army confirmed that Stanley had died, although it did not specify when. He was treated at a long-term care facility.

“Stanley played a key role and was highly respected as the front-line commander of the 7th Transportation Expeditionary Brigade (TBX), particularly during the mission to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza,” said Col. John “Eddie” Gray, the unit’s commander.

Three U.S. soldiers were injured during the pier operation, but the other two suffered minor injuries and returned to duty.

The U.S. military ended operations at the pier in July, months after Biden announced plans to build a pier to deliver aid amid a looming famine in Gaza, an enclave of 2.3 million people.

It involved 1,000 U.S. troops, delivered only a fraction of the promised aid at a cost of nearly $230 million, and was plagued by bad luck and miscalculations from the start, including fires, bad weather, and dangers on land resulting from fighting between Israel and Hamas.

The US military concluded that the mission was a success and delivered the largest ever amount of aid to the Middle East.

According to Gaza authorities, more than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.

According to Israeli data, the war broke out after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Himani Sarkar)