Gaza operations of much-criticised US aid group unravel
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US President Donald Trump insisted that American forces would not be involved against Hamas.
PHOTO: SAHER ALGHORRA/NYTIMES
Natan Odenheimer, Adam Rasgon and David M. Halbfinger
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WASHINGTON - A much-criticised aid group run by US security contractors and backed by Israel has suspended operations in the Gaza Strip as a ceasefire takes hold
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, once pushed by Israel as an alternative to the UN-led aid system in the enclave, is running out of money and faces serious logistical obstacles to resuming its work.
The organisation, known as the GHF, came under heavy scrutiny from international aid organisations over the past six months, accused of running a system that endangered the lives of desperate Palestinians who came to collect aid.
Israel had championed the new distribution system under the GHF, intending to weaken the Palestinian militant group Hamas
It “unfortunately did not work”, he said, though he blamed Hamas.
Since beginning operations in May, the GHF handed out millions of boxes of food to people in Gaza.
But it also drew Palestinians seeking aid onto dangerous routes, some guarded by Israeli military forces, who at times opened fire on Palestinians as a deadly form of crowd control. Hundreds were killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, whose leadership is appointed by Hamas.
A spokesperson for the group said that there had been no killings at the sites themselves, and that after the Israeli military opened fire well outside the distribution points, the GHF pressed it to ensure the safety of aid seekers.
The Israeli military has said its forces opened fire only when they faced “an immediate threat”.
Despite the criticisms, the organisation carried on operations until the Israel-Hamas ceasefire took effect in October.
“GHF was asked to pause operations during the hostage release phase, which is still ongoing,” the foundation said in a statement last week, leaving open the possibility that it could resume work later.
It is unclear how that would happen given the new lay of the land in Gaza. The ceasefire included an Israeli pullback from parts of the territory, posing significant logistical challenges for the GHF to restart food distribution.
The foundation previously worked through four hubs. Three of them, in southern Gaza, remain within Israeli-controlled zones under the terms of the truce, and Palestinians are not allowed to enter. A fourth site in central Gaza is in an area now controlled by Hamas, where the GHF effectively cannot operate.
The aid group is also facing financial and leadership challenges.
Its funding is expected to run out by before year-end, according to a spokesperson for the group, and its US director Johnnie Moore stepped down recently. Mr Moore, an evangelical Christian figure who has ties to the Trump administration, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
GHF efforts to secure additional financial support from the United States and other countries have been unsuccessful, according to two US officials and a third person briefed on the details. They all insisted on anonymity to share sensitive information.
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in a recent interview that the foundation faced a “cash challenge”. And its dwindling finances threaten its ability to continue operating.
Much of the group’s previous financing remains shrouded in mystery.
The foundation has said it received US$30 million (S$38.8 million) from the United States and about US$100 million from an undisclosed “donor country”.
Israel has denied funding any humanitarian aid efforts for Gaza. But in June, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the government had put aside funds to help what he called “the American company” build aid distribution sites, widely seen as a reference to the GHF.
The foundation launched just after Israel lifted a blockade that prevented food from entering the territory for more than two months. Gaza was sinking deeper into a humanitarian catastrophe with hunger, desperation and lawlessness all on the rise.
Many Palestinian aid seekers set out early in the morning, hoping to reach the GHF sites before they opened and were overwhelmed by crowds.
In some cases, Israeli troops opened fire when they saw Palestinians approaching in the dark or trying to slip behind them through dunes or abandoned greenhouses, according to four Israeli soldiers and commanders who insisted on anonymity to share what they had seen or been briefed on.
In the first months of GHF’s operation, the death toll near aid sites sometimes reached about 30 a day, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In all, more than 2,600 Palestinians were killed while trying to retrieve food aid since the end of May, the ministry said.
But more than half of them were not around GHF sites.
Palestinians were also killed along aid supply lines used by UN trucks and other international aid organisations. Some of these routes were patrolled by Israeli troops who, at times, fired on Palestinians trying to secure aid, while other people were run over by trucks, according to Palestinian witnesses.
The Israeli military acknowledged that there were cases of aid seekers who were killed by its forces and said they were under review. But it called the Gaza ministry’s casualty figures “inflated.”
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was the brainchild of Israeli officers and businesspeople who sought to achieve several goals, including denying Hamas a source of funding.
Israeli officials had long argued that Hamas was looting humanitarian aid and selling it on the black market at exorbitant prices, buttressing its hold on power in Gaza. The idea was to move aid distribution beyond Hamas’ reach and into parts of Gaza under Israeli military control.
Several Israeli military officials told The New York Times over the summer, however, that they believed Hamas was not systemically looting UN aid and even recommended an expansion of UN aid operations.
The foundation worked with Safe Reach Solutions, a private US company led by a former senior CIA officer, whose American contractors delivered food to sites that were guarded by Israeli troops.
Israel also hoped the foundation would provide an alternative to one of the main providers of aid to Gaza, the United Nations, which Israeli officials have repeatedly accused of anti-Israeli bias. UN officials say they are upholding strict principles of humanitarian neutrality in Gaza.
Many Palestinians said they would be happy if the foundation never returned to Gaza.
Mr Ehab Fasfous, 52, a resident of the southern city of Khan Younis, described the months in which it operated as some of the worst in the war.
“The whole thing was criminal,” he said. “It was devoid of all humanity and dignity,” he added. NYTIMES
