An American and Israeli-backed organisation has begun to dispense aid in Gaza, with both Hamas and United Nations officials strongly condemning the new method of distributing supplies to civilians of the Strip.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said on Monday that food had begun to be delivered to its depots, promising that: “more trucks with aid will be delivered tomorrow, with the flow of aid increasing each day.”
Israeli media reported that two of GHF’s four planned depots opened on Tuesday, one at Tel Sultan in Rafah, the other in the area known as the ‘Morag Corridor’ between Rafah and Khan Younis.
While Israeli troops will not directly help GHF, which is American, in its distribution efforts, the organisation would not have been able to operate in Gaza without explicit Israeli approval and support, something which Hamas has noted in its communiques on the subject.
A quote from the Hamas-run Gazan Ministry of the Interior described the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation initiative as “completely unacceptable, and we call on our people not to respond to it, as the occupation will use the distribution of aid within the framework of security and intelligence work.”
It described how the failure of the new aid plan “depends on the citizens’ lack of response and their categorical rejection of it, which will force the occupation to return to the previously implemented system of distributing aid through official institutions affiliated with the United Nations.”
The terrorist organisation simultaneously appeared to confirm its direct involvement in connection with supplies delivered via UN agencies as well as threatening any civilians using GHF, stating: “We will not hesitate to carry out our duty in securing and protecting aid trucks, and we will not allow the creation of bodies that serve as agents of the occupation in the areas controlled by its army. Anyone who cooperates with the occupation in imposing its agenda will pay the price, and we will take the necessary measures against him.”
However, Israeli media reported on Tuesday that GHF was estimating that thousands of Palestinians were queuing to receive aid packages from the two compounds. It cited an additional claim by the company that an attempt by Hamas to set up a checkpoint preventing people from accessing one of the sites had failed, with the blockade being breached by civilians.
The GHF initiative was also strongly criticised by Tom Fletcher, the UN’s Chief of Aid, who described how it would make “starvation a bargaining chip.” Mr Fletcher has yet to apologise for incorrectly claiming on live television last week that 14,000 babies would die in the next 48 hours in Gaza if aid was not resumed. It was later discovered that the statistic in question originated from a report stating that just over 14,000 children between six months and five years were at risk of acute malnutrition over the next year if aid to Gaza was not forthcoming.
On Sunday, the head of GHF resigned, stating that he felt it was “not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon”. The group said it was disappointed at his decision and that it would be continuing with its efforts to expand its aid operation to cover all Gazans, with aim to reach more than 1 million Palestinians by the end of the week.
Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, official spokesperson for the IDF, said: “The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation reports that Hamas operatives are threatening staff and blocking civilians from accessing aid, actively trying to sabotage their humanitarian mission.
“Hamas has been holding 58 of our hostages captive, as well as over 2 million people of Gaza. What was once a secret is now revealed to the public: Hamas does everything in their power to prevent Gazan civilians from receiving humanitarian aid directly. For them it’s aid for Hamas terrorists or no aid at all.”
