The Latest | U.S.-built pier begins carrying aid to Gaza WPXI [Video]

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

The shipment is the first in an operation that American military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day entering the Gaza Strip as Israel presses in on the southern city of Rafah and its 7-month offensive against Hamas rages on. No food has entered the two main border crossings in southern Gaza for more than a week. Some 1.1 million Palestinians are on the brink of starvation, according to the U.N.

In the occupied West Bank, dozens of Israeli protesters attacked a truck Thursday in an apparent attempt to prevent aid from reaching Gaza, beating its driver and setting it on fire. The Israeli military says soldiers arrived at the scene late in the day and tried to separate the attackers …