Hundreds of Palestinians swarmed and looted an aid convoy in Gaza on Wednesday, the latest incident revealing the disorganized distribution of aid in the region.
The U.S. has spent $350 million constructing a pier in the Mediterranean Sea to facilitate the delivery of aid into Gaza. The U.S. has used the pier to transfer roughly 569 metric tons of aid into Gaza, but none of that aid has been delivered to Palestinians, according to the Pentagon.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, who serves as Pentagon press secretary, confirmed the aid blockage in a statement to reporters on Tuesday.
He touted the 569 metric tons that had been transferred but admitted when pressed that none of that aid had been delivered.
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“Is it, am I accurate to say zero has been delivered to the people of Gaza so far?” a reporter asked Ryder.
“You know, we’ve been doing air drops. We’ve been helping to facilitate aid coming over the land crossings, but the causeway has been able to get over 569 metric tons of aid into Gaza for onward delivery. So, yes, very shortly, I think you’ll see aid starting to be delivered,” Ryder responded.
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“But none of that has been delivered, right? As of today,” the reporter pressed.
“As of today? I do not believe so,” Ryder admitted.
Crowds, like the one seen in Tuesday’s footage, have swarmed multiple aid caravans throughout the region, preventing them from accessing certain areas.
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U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric acknowledged the issue in a press conference on Tuesday, telling reporters that crowds of Palestinians had resorted to “what I think I would refer to as self-distribution.”
“These trucks were traveling through areas where there’d been no aid. I think people feared that they would never see aid. They grabbed what they could,” he said.
The U.N.’s World Food Program is now deliberating over new aid routes that could ensure aid arrives at its final destination.
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