The Pentagon says no aid unloaded from the US dock on the Gaza coast was delivered to the wider Palestinian population

None of the aid downloaded from temporary pier that the US built on the coast of Gaza was handed over to the general Palestinian population as the US works with the UN and Israel to identify safe delivery routes within the enclave, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

Several desperate Gazans intercepted trucks delivering aid to the docks over the weekend, prompting the UN to suspend delivery operations until logistical challenges were resolved.

The US is working with Israel and the United Nations to establish “alternative routes” for the safe delivery of the 569 tons of aid flown to Gaza since last week, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Tuesday. fair.

Asked whether any aid had been delivered to the people of Gaza, Ryder said: “To this day, I don’t believe so.” He added that aid was held in a staging area on land, but from Tuesday it began to be transferred to warehouses for distribution across Gaza as alternative routes were established.

A US official told CNN that the Defense Department and the UN are still working to determine how much aid can be held in the staging area inside Gaza at any given time.

The amount of aid reaching Gaza’s coast from its starting area in Cyprus also fell short of initial Pentagon estimates.

Since Friday, more than 569 metric tons of humanitarian assistance has been delivered through the temporary dock, called JLOTS, or Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, to the Gaza coast to be distributed by humanitarian partners, Ryder said. But Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said last week that the U.S. expected to initially transport 500 tons of aid a day through the dock, and increase over time.

Over the weekend, as trucks began transporting aid delivered to the floating dock, CNN reported that a group of men in Gaza intercepted the aid, saying they did not trust it was actually intended for the Palestinian people.

“I have doubts,” Mounir Ayad, a Gaza resident, told CNN near the pier. “I don’t understand this floating pier or what it indicates or what its purpose is. They say it’s to help, but people are apprehensive. Is this help or something else? We know that the US has never supported the Palestinian cause, so it is implausible that they are giving us aid without something in return.”

Ryder acknowledged Tuesday that some of the initial aid brought into Gaza was “intercepted by some people who took that aid out of those vehicles.”

“Fully appreciating the desperation, but also fully recognizing the fact that it is very important that this aid reaches the people who need it most, that will continue to be the focus. So I understand, you know, the focus on why this isn’t working, or why this isn’t working, but we’re focused on how we can work to make sure the Palestinian people get the help.”

The Pentagon said in April that the objective was to deliver around 500 tons of aid – totaling 90 trucks – per day to the starving population of Gaza, with the intention of moving up to 150 trucks daily. The pier was finally anchored in Gaza last week, as the humanitarian situation in the enclave only worsened.

Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator of the Office of Humanitarian Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said last week that conditions in Gaza “have not improved and in the last two weeks we have seen a vital border crossing close, and at a time when It is essential that we see more humanitarian aid. Across Gaza, 2.2 million people, the entire population, face acute food insecurity.”

The USA faced a series of challenges with the pier, including planning Israeli operations in Rafah, which could raise security concerns; initial issues with determining who would transport aid from the pier to Gaza, as the US repeatedly stated that no US troops would have boots on the ground; and logistical challenges, such as maritime and weather conditions, which may continue to limit capacity utilization.

Ryder said Tuesday that the U.S. continues to push for aid to arrive in other ways, including via land routes. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin continues to hold talks with his Israeli counterpart about the effort to obtain aid through land crossings, including through Rafah, he said.

When White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Israeli officials as part of his trip to the Middle East over the weekend, the Israelis presented their latest thinking about a potential incursion into Rafah, during which the U.S. side asked a lot of “difficult questions”. according to a senior administration official. This person noted that the two sides will continue these discussions, but that the Israelis have incorporated U.S. feedback and concerns as they continue to work on these plans. The official added that both sides share the common objective of destroying Hamas.

As part of the discussions with the Israelis, the US authorities also made a series of “specific requests” with regard to humanitarian aid, which they agreed to implement, according to the official.

One of those requests included helping to facilitate aid distribution by getting the Israelis to agree to allow digitized aid in Cyprus to be sent directly to the Israeli port of Ashdod, bypassing Egypt. Currently, cargo that is not transported to Gaza via the dock must pass through Egypt to be scanned before being brought into the enclave.

“I thought the conversations were very constructive and we now hope to see some of what was agreed to happen here in the coming days,” the official said.

Also on Tuesday, according to this person, more than 370 pallets of aid were distributed in Gaza.

The US also carried out a series of humanitarian aid airdrops into Gaza, in partnership with the Royal Jordanian Air Force. It’s unclear how regularly this will continue; Ryder said Tuesday that it’s an “option we have available” but declined to say whether that effort would continue “in the future.”

The last humanitarian airdrop announced by US Central Command was carried out on May 9.

“This is not a unique US military effort, it is an interagency effort. It is an international effort. And we understand the desperate need of the Palestinian people right now,” Ryder said of efforts to bring aid to Gaza. “And we will continue to work to get them what they need.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Sam Fossum, Kayla Tausche and MJ Lee contributed to this report.

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