Gaza - The US military has begun construction on a pier meant to boost deliveries of desperately needed aid to Gaza, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

The occupied coastal territory has been devastated by more than six months of Israeli bombardment and invasion, leaving the civilian population in desperate need of humanitarian assistance to survive.

"I can confirm that US 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 – two days after saying "there has been no physical construction of the temporary pier or the causeway."

Indications are that the pier will be operational in early May, and "everything is on course at this point," he said.

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The military official also outlined how the maritime aid delivery process will work, saying assistance will first come into Cyprus, where it will be screened and prepared for delivery.

Aid will then be loaded onto commercial vessels for transportation to a floating platform miles off the coast of Gaza. There, it will be transferred to smaller vessels that will take the assistance to a pier that is anchored to the shore.

Trucks will then drive the aid down the platform, where a distribution partner will take it into Gaza, the official said, noting that initial operating capacity will be 90 trucks of assistance per day, later rising to 150 trucks a day.

The senior military official reiterated that there will be no US "boots on the ground," saying an Israeli military unit will be responsible for anchoring the pier to the shore.

A senior US administration official said that the US Agency for International Development "will partner with UN organizations to deliver the life-saving aid once it gets to Gaza through the maritime corridor."

The official painted a dire picture of the situation in Gaza and the urgent need for aid, saying "the entire population of Gaza – 2.2 million people – is facing acute food insecurity."

"More than half of the population in northern Gaza is facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity," while "in southern Gaza, nearly a quarter of the population is facing this kind of catastrophic food insecurity," the official said.

The plan for the pier has stoked fears that Israel's continued control over aid entry could lead to further delays in ensuring access to life-saving food and supplies to the besieged people of Gaza.