The United States is moving forward with its new plan for getting humanitarian aid into the hands of Palestinians in Gaza without the support of the United Nations.

The private, newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will set up distribution sites that would be secured by private U.S. military contractors and operated by aid workers, while Israel would also be involved in the security aspects, but not with the distribution of food.

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“The Israelis are going to be involved in providing necessary military security, because it is a war zone, but they will not be involved in the distribution of the food, or even in the bringing of the food into Gaza,” U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Friday at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

The goal of this effort is to ensure aid is provided to civilians and does not fall into the hands of Hamas. It will take time to get the operation running at full capacity, the ambassador acknowledged.

“It is a humanitarian operation that was initiated by the president and his mandate for us to get aid into the people who most desperately need it, but to do it in such a way as to not let Hamas control it,” Huckabee added.

Israel began blocking the delivery of food, water, and medicine into Gaza in early March as ceasefire and hostage release talks reached an impasse. About two weeks later, Israel’s military resumed military operations in Gaza, ending the two-month truce that began in January.

“The team said that the design of the plan presented to them by Israel will mean large parts of Gaza, including the less mobile and most vulnerable people, will continue to go without supplies,” Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said earlier this week. “It contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles and appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic — as part of a military strategy.”

Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and took about 250 people hostage as well. Despite two short-term ceasefires and hostage exchanges, Hamas continues to hold roughly 60 hostages, only about a third of whom are believed to still be alive.

“The Humanitarian Country Team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said over the weekend that the Secretary-General and the Emergency Relief Coordinator have made clear that we will not participate in any scheme that does not adhere to the global humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence, and neutrality,” Haq added.

Huckabee urged the U.N. and other nongovernmental organizations to “join in this process.”

“We call upon the United Nations,” the former Arkansas governor said. “We call upon every NGO. We call upon every government. … We invite people who have been concerned about it to join in this process.”

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The U.S. is still hoping to get a deal finalized, though it is unclear how the administration can bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas’s opposing demands.

“You’ll be knowing probably in the next 24 hours,” Trump said Wednesday, when asked if he expects a deal to be finalized before he travels to the Middle East next week. “Lot of talk going on about Gaza right now.”