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28-05-2025
GAZA STRIP: A controversial aid group engaged by Israel and backed by the United States says it has started operations in southern Gaza as the Israeli military continues its attacks across the enclave with the stated aim of taking over all of Gaza.
This comes as more than 180,000 people were displaced in Gaza in just 10 days between May 15 and May 25, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which bypasses aid distribution networks established by the UN and charities, said it distributed boxes of food to Palestinians on Tuesday after announcing it had opened its first distribution hubs in southern Gaza.
The UN and international aid agencies have said they will not cooperate with the Switzerland-registered company, which is distributing aid under the protection of armed security contractors, amid concerns that the scheme could be used to “weaponized” aid, causing further displacement of Palestinians.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office, said the deliveries were a “distraction from what is actually needed”, instead calling for the reopening of all crossings into Gaza and more Israeli approvals for emergency supplies that are just outside Gaza’s borders waiting to be let in.
The GHF has gone ahead with its mission despite the resignation of executive director Jake Wood on Sunday, who said it could not adhere to “humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence”.
The new operation will rely on four main distribution centres in southern Gaza that will screen families for involvement with the Palestinian group Hamas, potentially using facial recognition or biometric technology, according to aid officials cited by media.
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen denounced Israel’s deadly wave strikes on civilian facilities during its expanded military offensive as “abhorrent”.
Her comments followed Israel’s bombing of a Gaza City school the previous day, which killed 36 people, mostly women and children.
The GHF announcement came as Israel faced global condemnation over conditions in Gaza, its population of 2.1 million subjected to constant attack amid a looming famine. Former UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness blasted the new scheme as “aid washing”.
“It’s quite simply the use of humanitarian aid to justify the weaponization of humanitarian assistance, but also to justify ethnic cleansing and genocide,” Gunness told media.
He also raised concerns about the use of security contractors to monitor the operation, saying the “subcontracting of aid to mercenaries” could lead to a similar disaster as last year’s “flour massacre”, in which at least 112 people were killed while waiting for food southwest of Gaza City.
France, the United Kingdom and Canada have said they will take “concrete actions” if Israel does not “cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid”. They were joined by Germany this week, which said the humanitarian toll of Israel’s offensive “can no longer be justified as a fight against terrorism”.
On Tuesday, Germany and Finland called for nations to “put pressure” on Israel to allow urgently needed humanitarian aid into Gaza. Earlier, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the European Union should impose sanctions on Israel. (Int’l News Desk)
