Pentagon spokesman Gen. Patrick S. Ryder told a news conference that during the first five days of operations, none of the food and supplies that entered the Gaza Strip through the temporary U.S.-built terminals were distributed by aid groups to the Palestinians. . briefing.
General Ryder said 569 tons of aid had arrived on Gaza’s coast, but humanitarian groups had yet to distribute the supplies.
On Saturday, hungry crowds looted several World Food Program trucks carrying aid through the terminals, prompting the agency to suspend deliveries of aid arriving at the terminals on Sunday and Monday.
General Ryder also said that following discussions with Israel and the United Nations, alternative routes for the safe movement of people and goods have been established. He said the aid was currently being transported to warehouses for further distribution.
“We do expect that aid will be distributed in the coming days, of course, conditions permitting,” he said.
The makeshift terminal is one of the few remaining entry points for aid after Israel invaded Rafah in southern Gaza earlier this month in response to a May 5 Hamas rocket attack that killed four soldiers. Rafah crossing point. These are the two main entry points for truck convoys delivering aid overland.
Although Israel has since reopened the Kerem Shalom highway, only 69 trucks have entered Gaza via it in the past two weeks, according to UN data. This is far less than the number of aid trucks that came through the two southern border crossings before Israeli forces entered Rafah. This number peaked at 340 trucks per day.
The 569 tons of aid that have arrived at the terminal so far is only a small part of the aid that entered Gaza by land before Israel occupied the Rafah crossing. The United Nations estimates that each truck delivering food to Gaza carries between 15 and 30 tons of food.
The terminal system, estimated to cost $300 million, became operational on Thursday after linking it to central Gaza’s Mediterranean coast. The first aid trucks began arriving on Friday. However, so far the business has not achieved its goal of bringing in 90 trucks per day and eventually increasing it to 150 trucks.
Gen. Ryder said more assistance is on the way, but the U.S. military is taking a “crawl, walk, run” approach to address logistical hurdles and consider security conditions. “So I think when we work together, you’re going to see an increase in the amount of aid and an increase in the ability to distribute it,” he said.
