US Army soldier dies after being injured while working on the Gaza pier project

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Army soldier who was injured in May while working on the American-built pier to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza has died.

Sgt. Quandarius Stanley, 23, was a motor transport operator and was critically injured when high winds and heavy seas damaged the pier, causing four Army vessels to become beached. Two other service members also were injured but later returned to duty.

U.S. military officials have not provided details on how exactly Stanley was injured but have noted it was not in combat. He died last Thursday and had been assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade Expeditionary at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia.

“Sgt. Quandarius Stanley was an instrumental and well respected first-line leader in the 7th Transportation Brigade Expeditionary (TBX), especially during the mission to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza. We will continue to provide support to his family during this difficult time,” said Col. John “Eddie” Gray, brigade commander. “Our entire unit mourns alongside his family.”

Capt. Shkeila Milford-Glover, a spokesperson for the 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, said Stanley had recently been retired and was receiving treatment in a long-term care medical center.

The massive pier project was hampered by unexpected bad weather and security issues, as well as persistent safety issues involving Israeli forces that prompted aid agencies to halt distribution of the supplies out of fear of being injured and killed.

The Defense Department formally pulled the pier from the Gaza shore on June 28 and declared an end in mid-July to the mission to bring aid into the territory besieged by the war between Israel and Hamas.

All together, the military moved nearly 20 million pounds of aid onto the Gaza shore in what officials said was the “largest volume of humanitarian assistance” ever delivered into the Middle East.

But aid agencies had difficulty moving the food brought ashore to areas further into Gaza where it was needed most because humanitarian convoys came under attack.