First aid shipment sent to US-built pier one day after Hamas targets area with mortar shells

The first shipment of aid is en route to the U.S.-built floating pier off the coast of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, officials said, one day after the Israel Defense Forces said Hamas fired mortar shells at the area where IDF troops were preparing for the U.S. humanitarian shipment. 

The aid left a port in the island of Cyprus, where the goods underwent a security screening before being sent Thursday morning on the approximately 200 mile-journey to the pier, Cyprus' foreign minister said, per The Associated Press.

After the cargo ship arrives and unloads its goods at an offshore platform off in the Mediterranean sea, the aid will be transferred to smaller boats, which will then travel about 3 miles to a floating pier that Israeli forces anchored to a beach off the coast of Gaza. From there, the goods will be placed on trucks that will distribute it throughout Gaza, if all goes as planned.

The goods are still being shipped after Hamas shot mortars at the IDF's "engineering work area" on Wednesday, Israeli officials told ABC News. No injuries were reported, per Israel's Channel 13 News. 

This is not the first time this week that Hamas has attacked aid entry points. On Sunday, four Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack near the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Congress last month that U.S. troops working on the Gaza Pier may be shot at, and, if they are attacked, "they have the right to return fire."

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