US military says 569 tons of aid delivered through Gaza pier

Tel Aviv, May 21 (IANS/DPA) The US military, on Tuesday, said that over 569 tons of humanitarian aid have been delivered to the Gaza Strip through a US-built temporary pier. The temporary harbour is serving as a hub for the delivery of aid supplies to meet the urgent needs of the Palestinian people, as Gaza itself has no harbour deep enough for larger cargo vessels.

The first aid deliveries arrived in the embattled coastal territory on Friday. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on social media platform X early on Tuesday that the 569 tons of humanitarian assistance, which so far have reached Gaza through the pier, came from donors, including the US, the UK, the United Arab Emirates and the European Union.

"The pier is a temporary solution to surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza to meet the urgent needs of the Palestinian people," the post continued. Newspaper The Times of Israel reported that the quantity of aid corresponds to some 25 lorries loads of aid.

According to earlier Pentagon statements, around 90 lorry loads per day will initially reach the Gaza Strip via the floating pier, while up to 150 lorry loads are expected per day at a later stage. A lack of basic supplies has led to a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip over seven months after the war between Israel and Hamas began.

The war started when fighters from Hamas and other militant groups from Gaza killed some 1,200 people in the unprecedented massacre of communities and army bases in southern Israel on October 7. They also injured and raped countless others and took more than 200 hostages back to Gaza.

Israel responded by sealing off the Palestinian territory and launching a massive aerial campaign to eliminate Hamas. At the end of October, Israeli ground troops were sent in, and much of the coastal strip has since been rendered uninhabitable. Some 35,500 Palestinians are said to have been killed in the fighting so far, while thousands of others are threatened by famine.