A new way of delivering aid to Gaza: The first contingent has arrived via a floating pier

At around 9:00 a.m. today (8:00 a.m. CET), trucks carrying humanitarian aid began unloading the first shipments through a temporary dock on the Gaza coast, the US Central Military Command (Centcom) which covers the Middle East announced. The command added that American soldiers did not go ashore in that operation.

"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 include goods donated by multiple countries and humanitarian organizations," the US Command said.

The delivery is the first in an operation that US military officials expect could increase to 150 trucks a day entering the Gaza Strip as Israel continues to press the southern city of Rafah in its seven-month war against the Palestinian Hamas.

The US and humanitarian organizations also warn that the temporary port project should not be seen as a substitute for the delivery of aid by land that could deliver all the food, water and fuel needed in Gaza. Before the war, an average of 500 trucks entered Gaza per day.

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The success of this operation is also uncertain due to the risk of militant attacks, logistical obstacles and a growing shortage of fuel for trucks due to Israel's blockade of Gaza, which has been in place since October 7 and the start of the war.

The US military finished assembling the floating pier on Thursday, and shortly after, the Pentagon said that humanitarian aid would begin to be sent that way quickly and that no delays were expected in the United Nations-coordinated distribution process.