Much of the food aid given out in the Gaza Strip is now being distributed by a secretive and widely condemned new organisation
How has the aid system changed?
On 30 January, Israel banned the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), the main Palestinian relief agency, from operating in the country. On 2 March, it also blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid – food, fuel and medicine – into Gaza, accusing Hamas of diverting or stealing aid; Israel insisted it would only resume deliveries if Hamas' leaders agreed to new ceasefire terms. Aid groups such as the World Food Programme (WFP) used up their stockpiles, and had distributed the last of them by April (though since then limited supplies have resumed). The UN warned that Gaza's entire population was at risk of famine. In May, Israel announced a solution: a new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would distribute aid.
How does the GHF distribute aid?
Unrwa had been operating in Gaza for decades, and agencies such as the WFP for many years. They had built up a network of more than 400 distribution centres, which handed out food regularly and systematically to its population of 2.1 million. Families received text messages telling them when to collect aid; the incapacitated received deliveries. By contrast, the GHF runs just four "fortified hubs" near areas controlled by Israel Defense Forces, three in the south and one in northern Gaza, where Palestinians must go to pick up food. People travel long distances to get there, and gain access to the hubs through narrow corridors. The crowds are large and desperate for food. The approaches are guarded by IDF soldiers, with guns, tanks and drones, and the hubs themselves by mostly US security contractors. Once inside, aid distribution is often uncontrolled, with crowds fighting for food. There are few checks on who is receiving the aid; NGOs have warned that the IDF could screen recipients using biometric processes linked to Israeli databases. The process has been chaotic, and very costly in terms of human life.
How many people have been killed?
In the first five weeks of operation, 615 Palestinians were killed at or near GHF hubs, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Since then, fatalities near the aid centres average between 50 and 150 a day, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, with 4,500 wounded in total. Victims report being shot at by both IDF soldiers and contractors as they queue for food. Tensions are heightened by the centres' opening hours, which are brief and unpredictable. If crowds gather too early or grow too large, distributions are often cancelled, and soldiers and security contractors fire at civilians to keep them away from sites, even when visibility is poor. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, IDF commanders have "ordered troops to shoot at crowds to drive them away or disperse them, even though it was clear they posed no threat". Israeli officials rejected the allegations but said they were investigating.
Why did Israel bypass aid groups?
The Israeli government has long clashed with NGOs in Palestine, especially Unrwa, which it accuses of being ideologically opposed to Israel, and of being infiltrated by Hamas: it claims Unrwa staff were involved in the 7 October 2023 attacks. A UN probe found that nine staff (out of 13,000 in Gaza) could have been involved. Israel also says that Hamas seizes aid and exploits it to shore up its power. It's hard to be sure, since foreign reporters are banned from Gaza, but the UN disputes this account; it estimates that by late 2024, more than a third of aid entering Gaza was being looted, but largely by armed gangs in "organised crime on a massive scale" – mostly in Israeli-controlled areas, and sometimes by armed factions with Israeli backing.
Who owns and runs the GHF?
It's not clear. Its first director, Jake Wood, abruptly resigned the day before distribution began, saying that the GHF would not adhere "to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence". His successor, Johnnie Moore Jr, is a US evangelical pastor with close links to Trump's White House, but little aid experience. The GHF is a US entity registered in Delaware. Security is handled by a company based in Wyoming, run by former CIA officers and soldiers. Until last week, its spokesperson in Israel was Shahar Segal, a wealthy restaurateur. The foundation has no website. Funding sources are unclear, though the US State Department recently gave it $30 million, bypassing standard checks. Israel is presumed to provide most of its backing, which is estimated at $150 million per month. Both the Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and the former minister Avigdor Lieberman have hinted that the money comes from Israel via shell companies.
Who has condemned the GHF?
More than 240 NGOs have called on Israel to shut down the GHF because of the mass casualties, and argued that, as the UN Human Rights Office stated, it is complicit in the "weaponisation" of aid. The fear is that it is being used not just to put pressure on Hamas, but to push Palestinians further south in Gaza, possibly as the prelude to removing them – a policy that the Israeli and US governments both support. The UK and the EU have condemned the GHF, and called for more aid to be sent into Gaza via the UN. In recent days, Israel appears to have agreed to this.
What does the GHF say?
The GHF says it is tackling hunger in Gaza by distributing boxes containing flour, rice, pasta, tuna, oil and hygiene supplies. It says it has given out 70 million meals, a record the US State Department calls "absolutely incredible". The GHF insists nobody has been killed at (as opposed to near) its hubs, and blames negative publicity on Hamas "misinformation". Moore accuses UN agencies of maintaining a "mafia" monopoly that has enabled Hamas to control nearly every food parcel entering Gaza.
The plan for a 'humanitarian city'
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz last week laid out a plan to transfer much of Gaza's population into what he called a "humanitarian city", on the ruins of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. Palestinians would go through "security screening" before entering, and then would not be allowed to leave, Katz said at a briefing for Israeli journalists. Initially, the plan was to move 600,000 displaced people from the Al-Mawasi area. Eventually, the entire population of Gaza would follow, and Israel would encourage Palestinians to emigrate, Katz reportedly said. The proposal was widely described as a contravention of international law, and a blueprint for crimes against humanity – and the IDF has refused to carry it out. Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, the chief of the general staff, said that the military's duties did not involve forcibly moving civilians. He argued that the plan was not part of the stated objectives of the war: to destroy Hamas and free the remaining hostages.
In February, President Trump declared that Gaza should be turned into a US-owned "riviera". Its inhabitants would be relocated, "by choice". Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu enthusiastically supports the plan; polls suggest two-thirds of Israelis do too.
