Hamas steals almost 70% of aid trucks, cripples deliveries via new U.S.-built Gaza pier

Just days after the first shipments of humanitarian aid arrived at the new U.S.-built temporary pier on the shore of the Gaza Strip, the project appears doomed to fail as Reuters reports that nearly 70% of the aid delivered so far has been stolen by Hamas terrorists.

The United States decided to build the pier in March as part of an international effort to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization.

After the pier became operational on Friday, a UN official told Reuters on Monday that nearly 70% of the humanitarian aid that arrived at the pier had not reached a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir al-Balah.

Eleven out of 16 aid trucks “were cleaned out by Palestinians” on the journey to the warehouse on Saturday. “They’ve not seen trucks for a while,” the official said.

“They [armed terrorists] just basically mounted on the trucks and helped themselves to some of the food parcels.”

Ten truckloads of food aid were transferred to the warehouse on the pier's first operational day on Friday, but since then, only five truckloads have successfully completed the journey.

“We need to make sure that the necessary security and logistical arrangements are in place before we proceed,” said the UN official.

To date, over 569 metric tons of humanitarian assistance has been delivered across the temporary pier to Gaza for further distribution by humanitarian partners. The United States, United Kingdom, UAE, European Union, and many other partners have donated this humanitarian… pic.twitter.com/KbgXwFbfzD

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 21, 2024

U.S. Central Command announced that over 569 metric tons of aid were delivered to the temporary pier so far, the equivalent of about 25 truckloads. Most of the aid was donated by the U.S., the UK, the United Arab Emirates and the European Union.

“The pier is a temporary solution to surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza to meet the urgent needs of the Palestinian people,” U.S. CENTCOM said.

CENTCOM Deputy Commander Vice Admiral Brad Cooper stated that CENTCOM aims to deliver 500 tons of humanitarian aid daily via the pier, or 90 trucks per day, eventually increasing to 150 trucks.

Israeli officials estimate that Hamas has so far stolen more than half of the aid that enters the Gaza Strip via the various border crossings, including the new pier on the Mediterranean and the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The terror group has made over $500 million in profit selling the aid since the war began, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported last week.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has deteriorated over the past several days as aid from the pier has not been reaching the people of Gaza.

In addition, the Rafah border crossing has been closed by Egypt in response to Israel’s operation in Rafah, and the Kerem Shalom border crossing has been closed due to intermittent fire by Hamas terrorists.

A senior UN aid official, Edem Wosornu, told the UN Security Council that the closure of the Rafah crossing halted the delivery of at least 82,000 metric tonnes of supplies, even as access at Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing was limited due to “hostilities, challenging logistical conditions, and complex coordination procedures.”