"The fundamental question is: Will we be able to get enough aid in to keep people alive? We have made it very clear that unless things change dramatically for the better, the answer is no (...). We need to see improvements on many different fronts," deputy spokesman Farhan Haq replied at a press conference when asked about the effectiveness of the new dock.

The maritime humanitarian corridor will allow the delivery of about 500 tons of aid in two days and help more than two million people at risk of starvation, according to the United States Department of Defense (Pentagon).

But Guterres' deputy spokesman stressed that "given the enormous needs in Gaza," the corridor "is intended to complement the land crossings (...), namely Rafah, Kerem Shalom and Erez," but "not to replace any of them."

Haq assured, however, that the UN is "grateful" to the United States, Cyprus and other states for helping to create the so-called "maritime corridor," a mechanism that the United Nations will support "as long as it respects the neutrality and independence of humanitarian operations."

In the many questions asked about the new artificial dock, it became clear that there are still many doubts about how it will work, mainly related to security.

For example, on whether the Israeli army will provide protection to the humanitarian columns leaving the dock for the interior of the Palestinian territory that has been affected by an Israeli offensive for more than seven months, Farhan Haq merely replied that "security mechanisms" had been created and that it would now be seen "how they work."

International aid, strictly controlled by the Israeli authorities, was already arriving in dribs and drabs, but its entry into the Gaza Strip is now practically blocked at the two main border crossings - Kerem Shalom, from Israel, and Rafah, through which fuel used to be transported from Egypt.

Today, António Guterres' deputy spokesman stressed that humanitarian aid "cannot and should not depend on a floating dock, far from the places where the needs are most acute," because whether the aid arrives "by sea or by road, without fuel, it will not reach the people who need it."

On October 7th of last year, Israel declared a war in the Gaza Strip to "eradicate" the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas after it had carried out an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory hours earlier, killing more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians.

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) - in power in Gaza since 2007 and classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel - also took more than 250 hostages, 125 of whom remain in captivity and 37 have died in the meantime, according to the latest report by the Israeli army.

The war, which today entered its 224th day and continues to threaten to spread to the entire Middle East region, has so far caused more than 35,300 deaths and 79,000 injuries in the Gaza Strip and about 10,000 missing, presumably buried in the rubble, mostly civilians, according to updated figures from local authorities.

The conflict has also caused almost two million displaced people, plunging the overcrowded and impoverished Palestinian enclave into a serious humanitarian crisis, with more than 1.1 million people in a "catastrophic hunger situation" that is taking its toll - "the highest number ever recorded" by the UN in food security studies in the world.

Read Also: Modi reveals secret talks with Israel for ceasefire in Gaza (Portuguese version)