In the first five days of operations, none of the food and supplies that entered the Gaza Strip through a makeshift U.S.-built terminal were distributed to Palestinians by aid groups, Pentagon spokesman Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said at a briefing on Tuesday.
General Ryder said 569 tons of aid had arrived on Gaza’s shores, but humanitarian organizations had yet to distribute it.
Saturday, hungry crowds Several World Food Program trucks were robbed Transportation of aid already moving through the terminals prompted 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. Israel not only occupied the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip. It shares a border with Egypt but also closed the Kerem Shalom crossing into Israel. These are the two main entry points for truck convoys delivering aid overland.
Although Israel has since reopened Kerem Shalom, only 69 trucks have entered Gaza through the crossing in the past two weeks, according to United Nations data. This is far fewer than the number of aid trucks that entered Gaza through the two southern border crossings before Israeli forces entered Rafah. The number peaked at 340 vehicles per day.
The 569 tons of aid that have arrived at the port so far is just a fraction of the aid that entered Gaza by land before Israel seized the Rafah crossing. The United Nations estimates that each truck carrying food to Gaza carries about 15 to 30 tons of food.
The terminal system, estimated to cost $300 million, became operational on Thursday after connecting to Gaza’s central Mediterranean coast. The first aid trucks began moving out on Friday Move to shoreHowever, the business has so far failed to meet its goal of bringing in 90 trucks a day and eventually increasing that to 150 trucks.
General Ryder said more aid was on the way, but U.S. forces were taking a “crawl, walk, run” approach as they worked through logistical hurdles and considered security conditions. “So I think as 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.
