Tel Aviv, May 21, (dpa/GNA) – 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 have reached Gaza so far through the pier came from donors including the US, Britain, 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. At a later stage, up to 150 lorry loads per day are expected.

A lack of basic supplies has led to a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, over 7 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 on 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.

GNA