The US military has published photos showing a floating pier being built in the Mediterranean Sea to help increase humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza.

Logistics vessels and personnel can be seen assembling the pier from steel segments, next to a US Navy ship.

Costing about $320m (£255m), the pier and a causeway attached to the shore should be operational in a week.

The goal is to deliver aid equivalent to as many as two million meals a day to Gaza to help avert a famine there.

A UN-backed assessment said last month that 1.1 million people were facing catastrophic hunger and that famine was imminent in northern Gaza by May.

"Right now, you're seeing construction of that floating, temporary pier, and then, you'll start to see construction of the causeway," US defence department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters in Washington on Monday.

"Eventually, that causeway will be... pushed into the coastline and secured by the [Israel Defense Forces]," she added.

The pier will be ready a week from now, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

The UN has said a maritime corridor can never be a substitute for delivery by land, and land routes are the only way to bring in the bulk of supplies needed.