Humanitarian aid was delivered to Gaza for the first time through a special sea pier

On the morning of May 17, the first trucks with humanitarian aid for the Palestinians arrived in the Gaza Strip through a specially built sea pier. reports Associated Press. The agency also releases satellite images showing the pier.

A temporary floating pier will be able to accept up to 150 truckloads of food supplied by ships in the Mediterranean as the Israeli army continues its offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The US and UN previously warned that the maritime corridor would not be a full replacement for land deliveries of water, food and fuel to the sector. Before the start of the Israeli army’s military operation, which was launched in response to the October 7 last year attack on southern Israel by the Hamas group, designated terrorist by the United States and the European Union, more than 500 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the region every day.

Humanitarian organizations and UN agencies claim that food and fuel supplies are running out in the south of Gaza, and famine has already begun in the north of the strip.

The construction of the pier cost the United States $320 million. The cargo will be delivered from the port of Larnaca in Cyprus, where it will undergo preliminary inspection by Israel. The American military will not land ashore. The Pentagon said that aid delivery is being carried out in coordination with the UN.

• Israel is conducting a military operation in the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas attack on the south of the country on October 7, 2023. Then more than 1,200 people died in Israel, more than two hundred were captured and taken to Gaza. Some remain hostage to this day. Israel has stated that its goal is the complete destruction of Hamas.
• Part of the international community accuses Israel of exterminating Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The Israeli military says it is targeting exclusively Hamas infrastructure and claims it is locating its facilities in densely populated areas, using civilians as human shields.
• According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 35 thousand Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed as a result of Israeli shelling. There is no independent confirmation of these data.