LONDON, May  15, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The UK's first aid delivery to a US-built
pier in Gaza left Cyprus on Wednesday, the foreign office in London said,
adding that it would be distributed "as soon as feasible".

The shipment includes nearly 100 tonnes of temporary shelter kits and is
the first part of a £2 million ($2.5 million) package of UK aid to be delivered
from the Mediterranean island.

The Pentagon had said on Tuesday that the pier would be operational in the
"coming days", after being delayed by a week due to bad weather.

With a cost of at least $320 million, the temporary pier is aimed at
boosting humanitarian access to Gaza, which has been ravaged by over seven
months of war between Israel and Hamas.

The pier will initially facilitate the delivery of 90 truckloads of
international aid a day into Gaza, rising to up to 150 truckloads once fully
operational, according to US estimates.

The UK government has pledged a £9.7-million aid package for Gaza, which
faces dire shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine, and has been taking
part in airdrops.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the first shipment was an "important
moment" in increasing the flow of aid, promising to "continue efforts to unlock
more routes to get vital aid in".

Foreign Secretary David Cameron also called on Israel to open more land
crossings for longer and "fully open" its Ashdod port for aid deliveries.

Land deliveries of aid have suffered as the Rafah border crossing has been
blocked since last week, when Israeli forces took control of it.

Plans for the pier were first announced by US President Joe Biden in early
March as Israel held up deliveries of aid by ground.

Under the plans, supplies will be transported out of Cyprus on commercial
vessels to a floating platform also built by the US military off the Gaza coast.
Aid will then be transferred to smaller vessels and brought to the pier on
the Gaza coast and taken to land by truck for distribution.

A British ship was also used to house hundreds of US troops building the
pier.

Gaza has been devastated by the war which began on October 7 when Hamas
carried out an attack in southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of about
1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official
figures.

Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and has conducted a retaliatory offensive
that has killed at least 35,233 people, mostly civilians, according to the
health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.