Debated American-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Ends Relief Activities

Aid operations in the region
The foundation previously suspended its aid distribution sites in Gaza following the ceasefire came into force recently

The disputed, US and Israel-backed Gaza relief foundation says it is concluding its relief activities in the Gaza region, subsequent to approximately 180 days.

The foundation had previously halted its three food distribution sites in Gaza subsequent to the halt in hostilities between Palestinian factions and Israel was implemented in recent weeks.

The GHF aimed to bypass the UN as the main supplier of humanitarian assistance to Gazans.

International relief agencies would not collaborate with its methodology, stating it was improper and dangerous.

Numerous Gazans were fatally wounded while seeking food amid turbulent circumstances near the organization's distribution points, mostly by Israeli fire, according to the UN.

Israeli authorities stated its troops fired warning shots.

Mission Completion

The organization declared on recently that it was terminating work now because of the "satisfactory fulfillment of its humanitarian effort", with a total of three million packages containing the amounting to in excess of 187 million sustenance units delivered to Palestinians.

The organization's top administrator, the foundation leader, additionally stated the United States-operated coordination body - which has been established to help implement the American administration's Gaza initiative - would be "implementing and enlarging the system the foundation tested".

"The foundation's approach, in which Palestinian factions were unable to divert and benefit from humanitarian assistance, had major impact in convincing militant groups to participate and establishing a truce."

Comments and Positions

The Palestinian faction - which refutes aid diversion claims - approved the termination of the humanitarian foundation, according to reports.

A spokesman for declared the organization should be made responsible for the harm it caused to local residents.

"We urge all worldwide humanitarian bodies to guarantee that responsibility is assigned after leading to casualties and wounds of many residents and concealing the starvation policy practised by the Israel's administration."

Foundation History

The organization commenced activities in Gaza on 26 May, a week after Israel had partially eased a comprehensive closure on humanitarian and trade shipments to Gaza that continued for 77 days and caused severe shortages of essential supplies.

Three months later, a food crisis was announced in the Gaza metropolitan area.

The GHF's food distribution sites in southern and central Gaza were operated by United States-based protection companies and situated within regions under Israeli military authority.

Relief Agency Issues

United Nations agencies and their collaborators said the methodology contravened the basic relief guidelines of neutrality, impartiality and independence, and that channelling desperate people into armed forces regions was fundamentally dangerous.

United Nations human rights division reported it tracked the fatalities of no fewer than 859 Gazans trying to acquire sustenance in the proximity to foundation locations between 26 May and 31 July.

Another 514 people were fatally wounded around the routes of UN and other aid convoys, it added.

Most of them were lost their lives due to the Israel's armed forces, based on the agency's reports.

Divergent Narratives

Israel's armed services claimed its soldiers had released alerting fire at people who approached them in a "intimidating" manner.

The GHF said there were no shooting events at the relief locations and accused the UN of using "false and misleading" data from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Future Implications

The GHF's future had been indefinite since Hamas and Israel agreed a halt in hostilities arrangement to execute the first phase of the American administration's peace initiative.

It said humanitarian assistance would take place "without interference from the both sides through the United Nations and its agencies, and the Red Crescent, in addition to other worldwide bodies not associated in any manner" with Palestinian factions and Israeli authorities.

UN spokesperson the UN spokesman declared this week that the organization's termination would have "no influence" on its operations "because we never worked with them".

The spokesperson additionally stated that while more aid was getting into Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October, it was "not enough to address all necessities" of the 2.1 million residents.

Judy Sanders
Judy Sanders

Lena is a tech journalist with over a decade of experience, specializing in consumer electronics and emerging technologies.