First aid shipment delivered via temporary pier to Gaza, says US military

The US military said aid deliveries began on Friday via a temporary pier in Gaza aimed at ramping up emergency humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

"Today at approximately 9 am (Gaza time), trucks carrying humanitarian assistance began moving ashore via a temporary pier in Gaza," the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement, adding that no US troops went ashore.

The shipment is the first in an operation that American military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day entering the Gaza Strip as Israel presses in on the southern city of Rafah as its 7-month offensive against Hamas rages on.

But the US and aid groups also warn that the pier project is not considered a substitute for land deliveries that could bring in all the food, water and fuel needed in Gaza. Before the war, more than 500 truckloads entered Gaza on an average day.

The operation's success also remains tenuous due to the risk of attack, logistical hurdles and a growing shortage of fuel for the trucks to run due to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Israel's offensive since then has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, local health officials say, while hundreds more have been killed in the West Bank.

The US military's Central Command acknowledged the aid movement in a statement Friday, saying the first aid crossed into Gaza at 9 a.m. It said no American troops went ashore in the operation.

Agencies