War in the Middle East: Gaza: First aid supplies reach makeshift landing stage

For the first time in the morning, trucks carrying relief supplies drove into the Gaza Strip via a makeshift landing stage run by the US military. No American soldiers went ashore, the US Central Command said on X.

It is a multinational operation to deliver aid to the Palestinian civilian population via an exclusively humanitarian maritime corridor, it said. On Thursday, the US military anchored the floating pier on the coast.

90 truckloads per day planned

The pier will serve as a hub for the delivery of relief supplies. Until now, there has been no port in the Gaza Strip that is deep enough for larger cargo ships. According to the Pentagon, around 90 truckloads per day will initially reach the Gaza Strip via the port. At a later date, up to 150 truckloads are expected daily.

The temporary arrangement was “necessary due to the absolutely catastrophic conditions in the Gaza Strip,” a representative of the US Agency for Development Cooperation, which is coordinating the deliveries, told journalists on Thursday. The situation of the civilian population in the sealed-off coastal strip has not improved. In recent weeks, a border crossing has been closed and there has been a decline in aid deliveries.

Loading onto smaller ships

The plan is for freighters to initially bring aid supplies from Cyprus to a floating platform a few kilometers off the coast of the Gaza Strip. The goods are to be loaded onto smaller ships that can sail closer to the coast. The smaller ships then dock with the truckloads at the temporary pier attached to the coast. The aid deliveries from aid organizations will be received and distributed there.

Hundreds of tons of aid are ready for delivery on ships in the eastern Mediterranean, said Admiral Brad Cooper of the US Central Command. “This is a 100% humanitarian mission and any attack on those involved is an attack on the aid to the people of Gaza,” he warned.