Middle East: Charities urge end to US-backed GHF aid system – DW – 07/01/2025
Aid groups and charities have called for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to be disbanded.
The GHF relies on private US security and logistics firms to bring supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel says allowed militants to divert aid.
Since it began its work in late May, hundreds of people have been killed by gunfire at or around sites run by the group and guarded by the Israeli military.Meanwhile, the Israeli army says it has launched a review into an airstrike on a popular Gaza seafront cafe that rescuers say has left 24 dead. Israel said it was targeting militants.,
At least seven Palestinians are confirmed dead after trying to reach aid late Monday and early Tuesday, hospitals report.
Three people were shot dead by Israeli fire in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, while four others were killed in central Gaza.
More than 65 people were wounded, according to Awda hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp and Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, which took in the casualties.
Local health officials say Israeli gunfire and airstrikes across the enclave have killed at least 112 people and injured more than 400 in the past 24 hours.
Clusters of houses have been reported destroyed in Gaza City's Shejaia and Zeitoun districts, east of Khan Younis, and in the southern city of Rafah.
More than 170 non-governmental organizations are calling today for a US- and Israeli-backed food aid plan in Gaza to be dismantled, saying it is putting civilians at risk of death and injury.
Medical authorities in Gaza say more than 500 people have been killed in mass shootings near aid distribution centers or transport routes guarded by Israeli forces since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating in late May.
The GHF relies on private US security and logistics firms to bring supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel says allowed militants to divert aid. The United Nations has called the plan "inherently unsafe" and a breach of humanitarian impartiality rules.
By early afternoon in Geneva on Tuesday, where the joint declaration was released, 171 charities had signed the call for countries to press Israel to stop the GHF scheme and return to UN-coordinated aid deliveries.
"Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families," the statement said.
Groups backing it include Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Amnesty International.
In response, the GHF told Reuters it has delivered more than 52 million meals in five weeks and said other humanitarian groups have had "nearly all of their aid looted."
"Instead of bickering and throwing insults from the sidelines, we would welcome other humanitarian groups to join us and feed the people in Gaza," the GHF said.
The NGOs accuse the GHF of forcing hungry and weak people to trek for hours, sometimes through active conflict zones, to reach food aid.
The Israeli military acknowledged on Monday that Palestinian civilians have been harmed at aid distribution centers in Gaza, saying Israeli forces have been given new instructions after what it called "lessons learned."
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Thanks for joining our Middle East blog!More than 170 charities have been calling for the US- and Israeli-backed food aid plan in Gaza to be scrapped, warning it's putting civilians in grave danger.
Medical teams in Gaza have been reporting more than 500 deaths near aid routes since the private-run scheme began, with the UN insisting the plan has been breaching humanitarian rules.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces says it is reviewing an airstrike on a Gaza beach cafe that killed 24 people.
This blog will bring you the latest on the situation in the Middle East, including in Iran, Israel and Gaza.
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