U.S. officials had said last week that the floating pier and causeway had been completed, but that weather conditions had delayed their installation. An American ship loaded with humanitarian aid, the Sagamore, set off for Gaza from Cyprus last week, and the aid was loaded onto a smaller vessel that had been waiting for the pier to be installed. Aid groups say the devastation in Gaza after seven months of Israeli bombardment, strict Israeli inspections and restrictions on crossing points are limiting the amount of aid that can enter Gaza. The Pentagon has said that the pier could help deliver as many as two million meals a day. An aid group, World Central Kitchen, built a makeshift jetty in mid-March to deliver aid by sea to Gaza for the first time in nearly two decades.

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Persons: Charles Q, Brown, “ It’ll, ”, “, that’s, Nadav Shoshani, Dan Dieckhaus, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Helene Cooper Organizations: U.S, Israel, U.S . Central Command, United Nations, Central Command, U.S ., Pentagon, Joint Chiefs, Staff, NATO, Israeli Navy, Division, Food, U.S . Agency for International Development Locations: Rafah, Israel, Gaza, An American, Cyprus, Brussels, Kerem