Gaza, May 21 (IANS): The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has said that land crossings are the most feasible and effective way to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip.

"While we welcome the arrival of the first shipments to the newly-anchored floating aid pier, land roads remain the most feasible, effective, efficient, and safe way to deliver aid," said UNRWA in a brief statement on Monday on X.

The statement indicated that only 69 trucks arrived in southern Gaza since May 6, stressing the necessity of reopening the crossings and providing safe access to them to avoid the continuation of the disastrous humanitarian conditions, Xinhua news agency reported.

Local Palestinian sources told Xinhua that a ship carrying humanitarian aid had reached the shores of the Strip while smaller boats began unloading and delivering the cargo to the aid pier west of the city.

The Palestinian sources added that dozens of trucks carried humanitarian aid and transported it to warehouses belonging to the World Food Program in the southern regions of the Strip.

In March, the US Department of Defense announced its plans to build a temporary floating dock on the coast of the Gaza Strip to facilitate humanitarian aid delivery to the Gaza Strip, which suffers from severe shortages of food, medicine, and other life necessities, according to local and international health sources.