The United States military has started the construction of a maritime pier meant to boost delivery of desperately needed food and other aid into Gaza, the Pentagon said Thursday.
The besieged enclave has been devastated by more than six months of Israeli bombardment and ground operations, leaving the civilian population in need of humanitarian assistance to survive.
"I can confirm that U.S. military vessels... have begun to construct the initial stages of the temporary pier and causeway at sea," Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder told journalists.
Judging from the satellite images analyzed Thursday by The Associated Press (AP), the construction appears to have been moving quickly.
Indications are that the pier will be operational in early May, and "everything is on course at this point," Ryder said.
The construction made a shaky start after the pier came under fire Wednesday, forcing U.N. officials to take shelter in a bunker there "for some time," a U.N. spokesperson said on Thursday.
The construction is part of an effort to avert famine in the Palestinian enclave that has been devastated by the Israeli military campaign, which plunged its 2.3 million people into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.
The U.N. has warned Gaza faces famine and has complained of "overwhelming obstacles" in getting in aid and distributing it around the enclave.
Aid agencies and the Biden administration have implored Israel to ease access for relief supplies into Gaza and to give their convoys safe passage inside the territory.
Plans to build an offshore platform for the transfer of aid from larger to smaller vessels and a pier to bring it ashore were first announced by the United States in early March as Israel held up deliveries of assistance by ground.
U.S. officials have said the effort will not involve "boots on the ground" in Gaza, but American troops will come close to the beleaguered territory as they construct the pier.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault on Wednesday.
Two rounds landed about 100 meters (300 feet) away, but there were no injuries and the team was eventually able to continue the tour, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
Ryder said the Pentagon was tracking "some type of mortar attack" causing minimal damage in the marshaling area for the pier. But he added that U.S. forces had not started moving anything to that area yet, and there were no U.S. forces on the ground.