First lorries with aid for Gaza leave newly constructed US pier

The first aid lorries to use a temporary US-built pier have come ashore in Gaza, the US military announced on Friday.

No US troops went ashore during the operation, US Central Command (CENTCOM) wrote on X.

"This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature, and will involve aid commodities donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organizations," the statement said.

The temporary harbour is to serve as a hub for the delivery of aid supplies as Gaza itself has no harbour deep enough for larger cargo vessels.

According to earlier Pentagon statements, around 90 lorry loads per day will initially reach the Gaza Strip via the floating pier. At a later stage, up to 150 lorry loads per day are expected.

A lack of basic supplies has led to a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, over 7 months after the war between Israel and Hamas began.

One border crossing had been closed in recent weeks leading to a drop in aid deliveries.

A spokesman for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jens Laerke, welcomed the start of aid operations at the pier.

He said however that "getting aid to people in need into and across Gaza cannot and should not depend on a floating dock far from where needs are most acute."

The eventual plan is for freighters to bring aid supplies from Cyprus to a floating platform a few kilometres off the coast of the Gaza Strip.

The goods are to be loaded there onto smaller ships that can sail closer to the coast. The smaller ships will then dock with the lorry loads at the temporary pier attached.

There, the aid deliveries will be received and distributed by aid organizations.

Hundreds of tons of relief supplies are ready for delivery on ships in the eastern Mediterranean, said Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of CENTCOM.

"As a point of emphasis, this a 100 percent humanitarian mission and any attack on those working on it, on this mission, is an attack on aid for the people of Gaza. We will continue to assess and reassess security to inform our operation every day," he warned during a briefing earlier this week.