Latest news with #Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - GHF is actually feeding Gazans, not letting Hamas extort them — and paying a price
The likelihood of a ceasefire in Gaza could turn on whether Israel meets a core demand of Hamas to stop a successful effort to feed the Palestinian people. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed more than 60 million meals over the last five weeks without interference or diversion. This has severely undercut Hamas's revenue streams, because Hamas has for years stolen humanitarian aid and sold it at high prices, despite the daily struggle of the Palestinian people to meet their basic needs. For Israel, the priority remains unchanged in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 terror attacks: eliminate Hamas and free the hostages still held in its underground labyrinth. At the same time, however, the world cannot ignore the immense suffering of Gaza's innocent civilians, most of whom are trapped by Hamas's control. Nor can Israel revert to the status quo ante, when Hamas was starving Gazans so it could finance terror. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, of course, has a singular mission: to feed the people of Gaza, safely and directly. It operates with transparency, logistical expertise, a commitment to human dignity, and yes, coordination with the Israeli government. Without that coordination, its food would face the same looting and diversion that plagues other aid organizations who see Israel as an obstacle. For this success, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been rewarded with cheers from the Palestinian people in Gaza, as well as robust international condemnation from nearly everyone outside of the Trump administration, which has chipped in at least $30 million in support. These critics claim that the foundation violates humanitarian principles by working with Israel. Their statements ignore the facts and focus instead on ideology. What they call 'neutrality' often serves as an excuse to avoid confronting the actions of Hamas, which routinely blocks aid and threatens aid workers. Apparently, if you play by Hamas's rules — accept their fabricated statistics, their propaganda, and their theft of aid — you are considered 'legitimate' by much of the legacy media. But if you challenge that system by delivering aid efficiently, securely, and without Hamas' interference, you become the villain. Even worse, Hamas has now turned its violence against Palestinian civilians for working with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Recently, Hamas attacked a bus of Palestinian foundation volunteers. According to regional reports, a Hamas unit killed or detained dozens of aid workers. Its operatives have also attacked American aid workers with explosives packed with ball bearings then before retreated into crowds of aid seekers, all in the hope of drawing fire and creating an international incident. Despite the violence, the United Nations has remained nearly silent. The European Union has offered no meaningful condemnation. Some affiliated agencies have continued to question the foundation's mission while ignoring the violence. Only the U.S. has led with clarity in its condemnations. The U.N., the International Red Cross and other captains of civil society insist on a sacrosanct neutrality that is effectively moral blindness. There are good and evil in this world. Feeding starving civilians is good; stealing the aid and murdering the people who feed them is evil. People of faith should recognize that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is delivering help where others have failed and doing so in the face of violence and death-threats. It deserves our support, not our suspicion. The values behind this work are not abstract. They reflect the deepest commitments of the Judeo-Christian tradition: charity, mercy and human dignity. While the ceasefire negotiations are underway, the UN, EU and international aid organizations should publicly pledge to work with GHF. If they will not assist, they should at least stop obstructing those who will. The time for moral equivocation has passed. Congress will soon hold hearings on the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza, too. Lawmakers should examine not only the work the foundation has done, but also the failure of other agencies to condemn or confront Hamas. If these groups continue to undermine the foundation or turn a blind eye to violence against its staff, American policymakers should reconsider how humanitarian dollars are allocated. Those who cannot condemn terror should not be trusted to address suffering. The tools of compassion are challenging the forces of cruelty. Feeding the hungry is a sacred duty and now, thanks to the foundation, the people of Gaza are enjoying reliable access to food. Hamas's opposition to feeding Palestinians must be understood. Aid organizations failing to fulfill their mission to bring aid to the people need to be named. And those who place bounties on their heads must be condemned and isolated. In a conflict filled with gray zones, this is a line the world must be willing to draw. Rabbi Abraham Cooper is a senior leader with the Simon Wiesenthal Center and chairman emeritus of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The National
2 days ago
- Health
- The National
At least 27 Palestinians killed at aid distribution site in southern Gaza
At least 27 people were killed and 180 injured on Saturday when Israeli forces opened near an aid distribution site in Rafah, southern Gaza, the Wafa news agency reported. The deaths come a day after the Israeli military, which has previously accused militants of firing at civilians near aid centres, said it had worked to minimise 'possible friction' between aid seekers and soldiers. It said 'instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learnt'. Earlier on Friday, the UN said 798 people had been killed seeking aid between late May and July 7, including 615 in the vicinity of distribution sites operated by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Another 33 Palestinians died in Israeli attacks across Gaza, Wafa reported. The victims included a mother and her three children in the west of Gaza city, and a couple and their children who were killed in a strike on their tent in Deir Al Balah, Wafa reported. US contractors guarding GHF aid distribution sites in Gaza are firing live ammunition and stun grenades at Palestinians rushing to get food, AP has reported, based on accounts and videos. Despite witness testimonies and Israeli confessions, the GHF denies that Palestinians have been attacked near its sites. Earlier in July, two American contractors said their colleagues regularly used stun grenades, pepper spray and bullets against aid-seekers. 'There are innocent people being hurt. Badly. Needlessly,' one of them said. Thousands of starving Palestinians typically gather near the sites. The scenes have been chaotic, turning deadly as people rush when gunfire is heard. More than 170 NGOs, including the UN, and several states such as the UK have condemned Israel's 'inhumane' aid distribution system. While aid, including baby milk, fuel and water continues to be largely denied entry into Gaza, the humanitarian situation has deteriorated beyond control. One in three people in Gaza are going without food, and 90,000 children need treatment for malnutrition, the UN has said. The ability of humanitarian agencies to respond is also being limited, Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the UN 's World Food Programme, told reporters in New York on Friday. 'I met many of these families who told me that they go through days when their children don't eat at all, but on the days they do eat, they often have hot soup with a meagre handful of lentils or a few pieces of pasta. 'Mothers told me how they try to keep their children from playing so they don't consume more energy than can be provided by food,' Mr Skau said.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Nearly 800 killed at Gaza food hubs and aid convoy routes since end of May, UN says
At least 798 people have been killed while seeking food at distribution points operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and other humanitarian convoys since the end of May, the UN human rights office said on Friday. The GHF, proposed by Israel as an alternative to the UN aid system in Gaza, has been almost universally condemned by rights groups for its violation of principles of humanitarian impartiality and what they have said could be complicity in war crimes. 'Up until 7 July, we've recorded now 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys,' the UN spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. Israel backed the GHF after claiming that Hamas diverted aid from the UN-led aid system, a claim for which the UN said there was no evidence. The private company employs American mercenaries to oversee four food distribution zones, as opposed to the previous 400 non-militarised zones run under the UN system. The GHF said the UN figures were 'false and misleading' and denied that deadly incidents occurred at its sites. 'The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys,' a GHF spokesperson said. GHF also denied that any injuries were inflicted at any of its sites, blaming Israeli troops firing on Palestinians trying to reach the four hubs it has established in southern and central Gaza. In Gaza, the GHF has become infamous for the near-daily shootings of people seeking food who have queued to receive meals since the group started operating in early May. Palestinians seeking food have to navigate a complicated set of instructions and stick to specific routes, as well as walk long distances to access the food sites. Even then there is no guarantee they will be safe. On Friday the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said its teams in Gaza were witnessing 'a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition'. The number of cases at its Gaza City clinic has nearly quadrupled over the past two months. At least 10 people were killed and more than 60 injured on Friday when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd in Rafah, southern Gaza, according to Ahmad al-Farra, the head of paediatrics at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which received the dead and wounded. At least 15 Palestinians were killed overnight and on Friday by Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza, including a strike on a school serving as a refugee shelter. 'The situation in the hospital was like it always is during massacres: extreme overcrowding, shortage of medical supplies and medicines, and a very high number of injured compared with the number of doctors,' said Farra. Treatment units were set up outside the hospital to cope with the influx of patients as hallways inside filled with the wounded. The situation in the hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operating in southern Gaza, was made more difficult after the Israeli military operated in the surrounding areas overnight. Doctors reported shells landing nearby and heavy gunfire on the outskirts of the hospital, with a number of patients arriving with gunshot wounds. The areas around the hospital were filled with encampments for displaced people and witnesses said Israeli forces had stationed tanks and fired teargas at tents. Two local people reported Israeli soldiers in a nearby cemetery, while one said they saw the soldiers exhuming bodies there. Israeli forces withdrew from the surrounding areas in the morning, but Farra warned the hospital only had enough fuel for the next 48 hours unless new supplies arrived. Air conditioning had to be shut off in the hospital to preserve power amid the sweltering summer heat. Nahla abu Qursheen, a 35-year-old mother of four who fled the tanks on Thursday, said those who did return to the encampment found their tents destroyed. Pictures showed ruined tents amid deep furrows in the ground on Friday. 'I still don't know what happened to our tent. We are still here on the street. Last night was very difficult – missiles and shelling. My children slept on top of each other, just to fit under a single piece of cloth,' Abu Qursheen said, exhausted from sleeping in the street. Israel has intensified its airstrikes on Gaza over the last week, as negotiators report a ceasefire deal is in sight, but not yet achieved. The US president, Donald Trump, said on Wednesday he was optimistic a deal was possible this week or next, during the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington. Hamas reportedly agreed to release 10 hostages of the 50 that remain, during the two-month ceasefire period. Qatari mediators have warned a ceasefire will take time, as key stumbling blocks remain. Hamas wants assurances that Israel will not restart fighting as it did in mid-March after the first Gaza ceasefire, while Israel is seeking the complete expulsion of Hamas from the Gaza Strip. Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, has floated the proposal of relocating the population to a 'humanitarian city' in southern Gaza, which legal experts have described as a blueprint for crimes against humanity. Juliette Touma, the communications director for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said such a plan would worsen the humanitarian crisis and forcibly displace people in Gaza. The war in Gaza started after Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 hostages on 7 October 2023. More than 57,000 people have been killed during Israel's 21 months of military operations there. As negotiations drag on, people in Gaza say they are losing hope. 'They say there is a truce, they say! Every day they say it will end today or tomorrow, but it's all lies. Wake up and stop this war. Enough of the death, the hunger and the constant displacement,' Abu Qursheen said.
ABC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
UN says almost 800 people killed near Gaza aid hubs in six weeks
Nearly 800 people have died trying to access aid in Gaza since late May, with most killed near the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's sites, the UN said Friday. An officially private effort, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operations on May 26 after Israel halted supplies into the Gaza Strip for more than two months, sparking warnings of imminent famine. Since those operations began through to July 7, UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the agency had recorded "615 killings in the vicinity of the GHF sites". Another 183 people had been killed "presumably on the routes of aid convoys" carried out by UN and other aid organisations, she told reporters in Geneva. "This is nearly 800 people who have been killed while trying to access aid," she said, adding that "most of the injuries are gunshot injuries". GHF operations, which effectively sidelined a vast UN aid delivery network in Gaza, have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations. The GHF, which said Thursday it had distributed more than 69 million meals to date, has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points. The Israeli army has accused Hamas of being responsible for firing at civilians in the vicinity of aid centres. The army said Friday it had issued instructions to Israel's forces in the field "following lessons learned" after reports of deadly incidents at distribution facilities. It explained that it "allows the American civilian organisation (GHF) to distribute aid to Gaza residents independently, and operates in proximity to the new distribution zones to enable the distribution alongside the continuation of IDF operational activities in the Gaza Strip". "As part of this effort, IDF forces have recently worked to reorganise the area through the installation of fences, signage placement, the opening of additional routes, and other measures," it said. The army stressed that "following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted," adding those incidents were "under review by the competent authorities in the IDF". Ms Shamdasani highlighted that the UN rights office had repeatedly raised "serious concerns about respect for international humanitarian law principles" in the war in Gaza, which erupted following Hamas's deadly October 7, 2023, attack inside Israel. "Where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food and medicine, and where they are being attacked, where… they have a choice between being shot or being fed, this is unacceptable," she said. The Gaza war was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, while displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million and causing a hunger crisis. wires
France 24
3 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
UN says hundreds killed in recent weeks while seeking aid in Gaza
Friday's reported violence came as negotiators from Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas were locked in indirect talks in Qatar to try to agree on a temporary ceasefire in the more than 21-month conflict. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he hoped a deal for a 60-day pause in the war could be struck in the coming days, and that he would then be ready to negotiate a more permanent end to hostilities. Hamas has said the free flow of aid is a main sticking point in the talks, with Gaza's more than two million residents facing a dire humanitarian crisis of hunger and disease amid the grinding conflict. Israel began easing a more than two-month total blockade of aid in late May. Since then, a new US- and Israel-backed organisation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has effectively sidelined the territory's vast UN-led aid delivery network. There are frequent reports of Israeli forces firing on people seeking aid, with Gaza's civil defence agency saying 10 Palestinians were killed Friday while waiting at a distribution point near the southern city of Rafah. 'Unacceptable' The UN, which refuses to cooperate with GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives, said Friday that 798 people have been killed seeking aid between late May and July 7, including 615 "in the vicinity of the GHF sites". "Where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food and medicine, and where... they have a choice between being shot or being fed, this is unacceptable," UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday's deaths, but has previously accused militants of firing at civilians in the vicinity of aid centres. Asked about the UN figures, the military said it had worked to minimise "possible friction" between aid seekers and soldiers, and that it conducted "thorough examinations" of incidents in which "harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported". "Instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned," it added in a statement. GHF called the UN report "false and misleading", claiming that "most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys". Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, told AFP that Israeli forces killed 45 people overall in the territory on Friday. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties. Truce talks In Gaza's south, a witness said Israeli tanks were seen near Khan Yunis, reporting "intense gunfire, intermittent air strikes, artillery shelling, and ongoing bulldozing and destruction of displacement camps and agricultural land". Israel's military said troops were operating in the area against "terrorist infrastructure sites, both above and below ground". Hamas has said that as part of a potential truce deal it was willing to release 10 of the hostages taken during its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the Gaza war. Netanyahu, who is under pressure to end the war after mounting military losses, said that would leave 10 living hostages still in captivity. "I hope we can complete it in a few days," he said of the initial ceasefire agreement and hostage release in an interview with US outlet Newsmax. "We'll probably have a 60-day ceasefire, get the first batch out, then use the 60-day ceasefire to negotiate an end to this." Netanyahu has said that a key condition of any deal is that Hamas first gives up its weapons and its hold on Gaza, warning that failure to do so on Israel's terms would lead to further conflict. Another issue holding up a deal is disagreement on the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for hostages, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said. The group's 2023 attack on Israel led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. Out of 251 hostages seized in the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. At least 57,823 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
