Aid for Gaza was being loaded onto a ship in Cyprus on Wednesday, in what was expected to be the first cargo to be delivered using a US pier built to expedite supplies to the Strip, Reuters reported.
Containers were being stacked on the US-flagged Sagamore, docked at the port of Larnaca, on Wednesday. Some containers going to the ship were labelled as aid from the United Arab Emirates.
"We are completing the loading of aid onto a US vessel now in Larnaca, and once the platform is in place, this part of the process (shipment) can commence," said Konstantinos Letymbiotis, a Cyprus government spokesperson, who was quoted by Reuters.
It was unclear when the vessel would depart.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon said that the US military had completed construction of its Gaza aid pier, but weather conditions mean it is currently unsafe to move the two-part facility into place.
A senior Biden administration official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said last month that aid coming off the US pier will need to pass through Israeli checkpoints on land. That is despite the aid having already been inspected by Israel in Cyprus prior to being shipped to Gaza.
President Joe Biden, in his State of the Union address in March, announced the plans for the temporary pier on the coast of Gaza that would receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelter and provide aid to the Strip.
Biden later said that Israel will provide security for the port he plans to build off the coast of Gaza that would provide aid to the Strip.