Almost 100 aid trucks in Gaza via US pier: UN

The US-built temporary pier on the coast of Gaza has delivered 97 trucks of aid since operations began a week ago, a UN spokesman said Friday, after what he called a "rocky start."

The UN World Food Programme "took possession of 97 trucks since the floating dock came into operation" on May 17, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres, told reporters.

President Joe Biden had said in March the pier would be built to alleviate restrictions imposed by Israel on delivery by land to the Gaza Strip, ravaged by war sparked by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

In the first few days of deliveries, people made off with the contents of some trucks heading to warehouses.

"There were a number of trucks where people, as we put it, self-distributed, but the trucks themselves did make it," Dujarric said.

"After a rocky start, the situation is stabilized."

"What we want to see, as we've been saying, is massive aid coming in through land routes."