Trump administration on the defensive after Gaza aid plan spirals into chaos

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce kicked off Tuesday's briefing with "great news to report out of Gaza", despite taking to the podium just hours after the scandal-plagued US-Israeli aid distribution scheme descended into chaos, with gunfire ringing out while desperate Palestinians rushed the makeshift facility to obtain food. 

"The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), under the humanitarian principles of independence and impartiality, has commenced providing life-saving aid to the people of Gaza who desperately need it," Bruce said. "Approximately 8,000 food boxes have been distributed so far. Each box feeds 5.5 people for three and a half days, totalling 462,000 meals."

But order had quickly disintegrated into a stampede earlier in the day, and many who made the long trek from northern to southern Gaza did not receive any aid at all. At least three Palestinians were killed and 46 wounded by Israeli fire during the chaos, as throngs of starving people rushed to retrieve food packages, Arabic media reported.

When pressed on the escalation into violence at the facility, Bruce told reporters Hamas was to blame. 

"Hamas still has weapons. Hamas is in a situation here where all of this could have been stopped, of course, if they had released the hostages and put down their weapons, but they refused to do so. They've also rejected ceasefires," she said. 

"The fact of the matter is, Hamas has been opposed to this dynamic. They have attempted to stop the aid movement through Gaza to these distribution centres."

On Sunday, the head of the United Nations World Food Programme refuted the claim that Hamas was stealing aid coming into Gaza. 

'Was this going to be like going to the mall or through a drive-thru? No, it wasn't'

- Tammy Bruce, State Department spokesperson

And in March, it was Israel that resumed bombing Gaza after a six-week ceasefire that it refused to extend. 

"The bottom line is, the real story here is that the aid is moving through and in that kind of an environment, it's not surprising that there might be a few issues," Bruce said. 

Those "issues" involved the deaths of at least three Palestinians at the GHF site.

"Was this going to be like going to the mall or through a drive-thru? No, it wasn't. This is a complicated environment, and the story is the fact that it's working," Bruce insisted.

"Whatever it was that was hindering the aid to the Gazan people has been overcome," she added, after being reminded by a reporter that Israel maintains a full blockade of Gaza. 

GHF's CEO, a former US Marine, resigned on Sunday just before operations were due to commence because he could not act impartially, he said in a statement. 

Jake Wood's departure came as investigations in The Washington Post and The New York Times over the weekend raised significant questions about the origins of the organisation and its ties to Israeli officials. 

As critical questions mounted in the room, Bruce distanced the US government from GHF. 

"I don't speak for this foundation... This is not a State Department effort. We don't have a plan," she told reporters.

So, how can reporters contact GHF, which remains a mysterious organisation with no publicly available communications channel? A reporter asked.

"I think there's a thing called the internet," Bruce responded. "I think a number of you understand research."