More aid getting from US pier to people in Gaza, officials say, after troubled launch

WASHINGTON (AP) — A six-day-old U.S. pier project in Gaza is starting to get more aid to Palestinians in need but conditions are challenging, U.S. officials said Thursday. That reflects the larger problems bringing food and other supplies to starving people in the besieged territory.

The floating pier had a troubled launch, with crowds overrunning some of the first trucks coming from the new U.S.-led sea route and taking its contents over the weekend. One man in the crowd was shot dead in still-unexplained circumstances. It led to a two-day suspension of aid distribution.

The U.S. military worked with the U.N. and Israeli officials to select safer alternate routes for trucks coming from the pier, U.S. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper told reporters Thursday.

As a result, the U.S. pier on Wednesday accounted for 27 of the 70 total trucks of aid that the U.N. was able to round up from all land and sea crossings into Gaza for distribution to civilians, the United States said.

That’s a fraction of the 150 truckloads of food, emergency nutrition treatment and other supplies that U.S. officials aim to bring in when the sea route is working at maximum capacity.

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