Aid trickles in as pier opens

U.S., aid groups warn project not a substitute for land deliveries into Gaza

- LOLITA C. BALDOR AND JON GAMBRELL

U.S. military officials anticipate the pier project could scale up to 150 truckloads a day, but it won't come close to replacing regular shipments. Before the war, more than 500 truckloads entered the Palestinian territory on an average day.

Trucks carrying badly needed aid for the Gaza Strip rolled across a newly built U.S. pier and into the besieged enclave for the first time Friday as Israeli restrictions on border crossings and heavy fighting hindered the delivery of food and other supplies.

The shipment is the first in an operation that U.S. military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day, all while Israel presses in on the southern city of Rafah in its seven-month offensive against Hamas. At the White House, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said "more than 300 pallets" of aid were in the initial delivery and handed over to the UN, which was preparing it for distribution.

Kirby said the U.S. has gotten indications that "some of that aid was already moving into Gaza."