US-backed aid company in Gaza closes operations
A US- and Israel-backed company that provided aid to Gaza said it would close down operations.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) had already shut distribution sites after a US-brokered ceasefire took effect six weeks ago in Gaza.
It has now announced that it is permanently shutting down, claiming it has fulfilled its mission.
GHF director John Acree said in a statement: “We have succeeded in our mission of showing there’s a better way to deliver aid to Gazans.”
The operations of the GHF were shrouded in secrecy during its short time in operation.
Launched with US and Israeli backing as an alternative to the United Nations, the group never revealed its sources of funding and little about the armed contractors who operated the sites.
It said its goal was to deliver aid to Gaza without it being diverted by Hamas.
Palestinians, aid workers and health officials have said the system forced aid-seekers to risk their lives to reach the sites by passing Israeli troops who secured the locations.
Soldiers often opened fire, killing hundreds, according to witnesses and videos posted to social media.
The Israeli military says it fired only warning shots as a crowd-control measure or if its troops were in danger.
GHF said there was no violence in the aid sites themselves but acknowledged the potential dangers people faced when travelling to them on foot.
However, contractors working at the sites, backed by video accounts, said the American security guards fired live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scrambled for food.
Mr Acree said that GHF would hand off its work to the US-led centre in Israel overseeing the Gaza ceasefire, called the Civil-Military Co-ordination Centre (CMCC).
“GHF has been in talks with CMCC and international organisations now for weeks about the way forward and it’s clear they will be adopting and expanding the model GHF piloted,” he said.
GHF began operating in late May, after Israel had halted food deliveries to Gaza for three months, pushing the population toward famine.
Israel intended for the private contractor group to replace the UN food distribution system, claiming Hamas was diverting large amounts of aid.
The UN has denied the claims.
The UN had opposed the creation of GHF, saying the system gave Israel control over food distribution and could force the displacement of Palestinians.
Throughout the war, the UN led a massive humanitarian effort with other aid groups, distributing food, medicine, fuel and other supplies at hundreds of centres around Gaza.
In the release, GHF said it had delivered more than three million food boxes to Gaza, totalling 187 million meals.
Also on Monday, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz and military chief of staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir clashed publicly over the army’s investigation into what happened on October 7 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people to Gaza.
Mr Katz has said earlier that he would order a re-examination of the military’s latest internal review. He also said he would be freezing new appointments in the army pending the conclusions of this new review.
Israel’s government has long resisted the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack.
In response, Lt Gen Zamir said in a sharply worded statement that the defence minister’s move was “puzzling” and “not substantive”.
He said freezing appointments would harm the military’s “capabilities and its readiness for the upcoming challenges” and claimed he would continue to “hold posting discussions as planned, in accordance with his authority”.
The army “is the only body in the country that has thoroughly investigated its own failures and taken responsibility for them”, wrote Lt Gen Zamir.
“If any further examination is required to complete the picture, it must take the form of an external, objective and independent commission” that will also probe “the interface between the military echelon and the political echelon”.
Moments after Lt Gen Zamir put out the statement, Mr Katz doubled down on his decision, releasing a statement saying he “respects” the military chief of staff, “who knows very well that he is subordinate to the prime minister, the defence minister, and the government of Israel”.
He added he “does not intend to argue in the media” and re-asserted his authority to decide on military appointments.
Following the military’s latest review, Lt Gen Zamir sanctioned 13 army officials who were top commanders on October 7 2023, censuring some and forcing others into retirement.
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