More than 130 humanitarian organizations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty International, demanded the immediate closure of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), supported by the United States, accusing it of facilitating attacks against hungry Palestinians.
In a joint declaration published on Tuesday, NGOs said that Israeli and armed groups “regularly” have “an open fire on civilians trying to access food.
Since the GHF began operations at the end of May, more than 500 Palestinians were killed when they asked for help and nearly 4,000 injured, groups reported.
They condemned the aid mechanism as a violation of humanitarian standards, accusing it of having channeled 2.2 million Gaza residents in overcrowded and militarized distribution areas, where they are exposed to almost daily shots.
“Palestinians in Gaza are faced with an impossible choice: to starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the statement said. “Orphan children and caregivers are among the dead, with children injured in more than half of the attacks on civilians on these sites.”
Since its launch, the GHF has replaced more than 400 localized distribution points-which had worked during a brief ceasefire-with only four centralized sites under Israeli military control: three in southwest Gaza and one in the center.
“In the midst of serious hunger and famine type conditions, many families tell us that they are now too weak to compete for food rations,” said NGOs, insisting that GHF “is not a humanitarian response.”
‘Israeli agenda’
Addressing Tel Aviv Tribune de Gaza City, the head of the Palestinian civil society, Amjad Shawa, said that the aid mechanism does not provide sufficient supplies for hungry families and that people also press people south of Gaza.
“They deliver tiny portions of food – some energy bars, oil, rice and flour – barely enough to last two or three days,” he said. “It’s not a good meal. It may deepen malnutrition in Gaza.”
Shawa argued that the positioning of the GHF distribution points mainly in the south and east of Gaza reflects a deliberate strategy to chase away from the northern, allegedly with wider military objectives. “It is an effort calculated to push the Palestinians further south,” he said.
United Nations agencies and humanitarian leaders have repeatedly criticized the GHF model. Last week, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres labeled him “intrinsically dangerous”.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Friday that Israeli soldiers had been ordered to shoot unarmed Palestinians near the aid sites to disperse them.
Tareq Abu Azzoum of Tel Aviv Tribune, postponing Deir El-Balah, said that there was no lèpage in the attacks against the seekers of help, with the “Israeli military opening fire on the hungry crowds trying to approach the GHF aid supplies, killing at least 16” Tuesday. Aid seekers were among at least 44 people killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza on Tuesday, medical sources told Tel Aviv Tribune.
Ceasefire conferences
The conviction comes as Israeli officials, including the Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, arrive in Washington, DC for renewed cease-fire talks. The Qatar mediator confirmed continuous efforts to relaunch negotiations, but noted that progress was slow.
“There is a moment created by the Irano-Israeli ceasefire,” said the spokesman for the Ministry of Qatari Foreign Affairs, Majed Al-Ansari, “but the main obstacle is that the two parties do not return to the table.”
The military leader of Israel said last week that his floor operation was approaching his objectives, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that new opportunities had appeared to recover captives held by Palestinian groups – 20 of which are supposed to be alive.
Meanwhile, Osama Hamdan, Higher Head Manager, said on Monday that there had been no contact with Israel for weeks. “We are determined to ask for a cease-fire that will save our people, and we work with mediators to open up level passages,” he said.
