Aid deliveries began arriving at a US-built pier off the Gaza Strip on Friday as Israel comes under growing global pressure to allow more supplies into the besieged coastal enclave, where it is at war with Palestinian fighters Hamas and a famine looms.
The temporary floating pier was pre-assembled at the Israeli port of Ashdod and moved into place on Thursday on the shore of Gaza, which lacks port infrastructure of its own. But no US troops went ashore, said the US Central Command.
"This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians ... and will involve aid commodities donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organisations," the US Central Command said in a statement.
After months of discussions, the United Nations has now "agreed to support in receiving and arranging for the dispatch of aid into Gaza from the floating dock, as long as it respects the neutrality and independence of humanitarian operations," deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Friday.
Aid offloaded at the pier will come via a maritime corridor from Cyprus, where it is first inspected by Israel. Britain said on Friday it had delivered its first aid shipment via the pier.
The UN World Food Programme will have a handful of staff stationed near the pier to coordinate distribution of the aid - using contractors - throughout Gaza, said a UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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