The United States says that a new foundation is being created to coordinate Gaza help deliveries in the middle of the two-month-old Israel of the strip.
Development comes as Israeli attacks continue to target civilians. At least 22 Palestinians were killed in a series of attacks on Friday, at least 22 Palestinians told Tel Aviv Tribune medical sources in Gaza. They include a mother and a child from the refugee camp in Al Nuseirat in the center of Gaza, and a father and a son killed in Khan Younis in the south.
The American ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told journalists on Friday that Israel would not be involved in the distribution of aid in the enclave but would ensure the security of operations of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The plan for the “charity” and “non-governmental” initiative was announced Thursday by the spokesperson for the State Department Tammy Bruce. Although few details have been revealed, it appears in an American-Israeli push to resume the distribution of aid to prevent it from being diverted by Hamas and other groups.
The news agency AP indicated that the newly created GHF had published a proposal to implement a new aid distribution system, by supplanting the current one managed by the United Nations and other international aid agencies.
The reports claim that by virtue of the proposal, private entrepreneurs will be used to secure the Pords where the Palestinians will have to gather to collect supplies.
Israel, who has interrupted the entry of all assistance to Gaza since March 2, deepening the humanitarian crisis, previously said that it would not relax until a system will not be in place which gives it control of the distribution, insisting that the supplies are used to support Hamas.
The intention to put the touch of the UN aroused strong criticism from humanitarian organizations, and it is not clear if GHF’s proposal will attenuate these concerns.
“There is only one word to describe this, and it is the washing of aid. It is a cynical attempt by the State of Israel and its allies … To use the aid to hide the fact that what is really happening is that people are hungry in submission,” said Chris Gunness, a former UNLEA – The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees – Jazeera.
“They are hungry as part of the mass and the displacement of the illegal force, which partially makes Israel genocidal ambitions against the Palestinians.”
Gunness added that the proposal is also an “attempt by Israel to destroy UNRWA”, declaring that UNRWA is the only organization that has the infrastructure, staff, vehicles, food distribution centers and warehouses “to avoid mass famine in Gaza”.
Bruce of the US State Department has promised that new announcements concerning the proposal would soon follow.
“I was hoping to present it today, but the foundation will announce this shortly,” she said.
The former executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, David Beasley, is in talks with the United States, Israel and other key players to lead the GHF, reported the United States axis, citing anonymous sources.
The blockade of Israel, implemented about two weeks before resuming its bombing of the enclave, left 2.3 million Palestinians from Gaza, most of whom were moved several times, desperately short of food, fuel and medication.
Israeli “Help”
The American plan seems to be designed in lines similar to a proposal approved by the Israeli security firm on Sunday.
As part of the program, four “secure distribution sites” would be built, each intended to serve 300,000 people. The Palestinians expelled from northern Gaza would be forced to move to reach the centers.
The plan was encountered by strong Critics of the UN and other aid groups, which noted that the Palestinians were regularly attacked by Israeli forces during the aid collection.
Responding to these concerns, Huckabee said on Friday “the most important danger is nothing” and “people who die of hunger”.
The aid would be “effectively distributed, but also safely,” insisted the American official, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.
The decision to bypass international aid agencies takes place in a context of greater alarm on the conditions of the famine type in the besieged territory, where the almost total blockade of Israel has cut all essential supplies for almost three months.
At least 57 Palestinians made hungry to death in Gaza, most of the victims being children, as well as the sick and the elderly.
The spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency, Jens Laerke, condemned the exertion of existing aid structures on Tuesday.
“It seems to be a deliberate attempt to arm aid,” he said. “It should be based solely on humanitarian needs.”
