TEL AVIV — The new executive chairman for the controversial American-backed humanitarian organization distributing aid in the Gaza Strip refused to reveal the donors who are financing the agency, though he did tell NBC News that to his knowledge the group is not funded by the Israeli government.
Johnnie Moore, an evangelical Christian and former PR consultant who advised President Donald Trump during his first term, was appointed executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) last week as the organization reeled from the resignation of his predecessor. It has also faced criticism from the United Nations and aid groups for a lack of independence from Israel, which backs the organization along with the U.S.
Since it started operating late last month, the group has set up aid distribution sites in Gaza in response to international pressure over serious malnutrition in Gaza, where Israel recently lifted an 11-week complete blockade on food, aid and medical supplies entering the enclave.
But regular bouts of deadly violence in and around those sites has also brought increasing scrutiny on the GHF’s source of funding and the degree of autonomy it has from Israel.
In an exclusive interview with NBC News last week, Moore said it was “a private foundation.”
“Like lots of private foundations, you know, it doesn’t disclose its donors,” he said. “Anything that we do and anything that we say publicly is going to distract from the mission, and we have one mission, just one mission, which is to feed Gazans.”
Pressed on accusations that Israel was financing and controlling the organization, Moore said that “based upon what I know, this is an independent initiative that is not funded by the Israeli government.”
Other questions have also swirled around the GHF, even before it launched four aid distribution points in southern and central Gaza.
A day before it began operations in the strip, Moore’s predecessor Jake Wood resigned, saying in a letter published by Reuters that continuing to work with the group would compromise his “neutrality, impartiality and independence.”
United Nations agencies and major aid groups that previously ran hundreds of community kitchens and bakeries in the enclave have also refused to cooperate with it, saying it violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to decide who receives aid, forces widespread displacement in Gaza, and concentrates distribution in areas that may not be accessible to everyone.
Setting up so few sites for food distribution meant crowd control problems were inevitable, according to Ciaran Donnelly, the senior vice president for international programs at the International Rescue Committee, which ran major relief operations in Gaza. “No aid organization would recommend doing it that way,” he said.
Inside Israel, as well, critics have questioned its independence. Last month in front of Israel’s legislature, opposition leader Yair Lapid, without providing evidence, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of funding the GHF through foreign shell companies. And last week, citing unnamed public officials, Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, reported that the Israeli government had sent hundreds of millions of shekels to the group.
Israel’s government has repeatedly denied it funds the GHF.
Any organization “being used by occupying powers” would not be able to carry out its task according to the humanitarian principles of impartiality and independence, said Philip Grant, the executive director of TRIAL International, a Geneva-based nongovernmental organization that advocates for victims of war crimes.
TRIAL International has called on the Swiss government to investigate GHF, whose only registered presence outside the U.S. is in Geneva.
While the GHF has said it is working to open new sites, including in northern Gaza, no such distribution points have opened yet, forcing some Palestinians with advanced injuries and disabilities to walk long distances for aid — often through dangerous areas and extreme heat.
Such onerous requirements for something as basic as food could amount to war crimes, Grant said, and could even lead to accusations that organizations like GHF are complicit.
“This operation comes with a huge risk in terms of violations of the Geneva Conventions,” Grant said. “Especially the forced displacement of populations, which, if carried out, would be a participation in the war crime of enforced displacement of civilian population.”
