Latest news with #Gaza Humanitarian Fund
CNN
25-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
US government review found no evidence of widespread Hamas theft of Gaza aid
The Middle East Federal agenciesFacebookTweetLink Follow An internal US government review found no evidence of widespread theft by Hamas of US-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza, contradicting the State Department's claims that were used to justify backing a controversial private organization that took over aid distribution in the enclave. The analysis, conducted by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), looked into 156 incidents of waste, fraud, and abuse reported by partner organizations between October 2023 and May 2025. The review of the incidents, which was first reported by Reuters, 'found no affiliations' with sanctioned groups or foreign terrorist organizations, according to a presentation seen by CNN. 'There was no indication that there was a systemic loss due to Hamas interference or theft or diversion,' a source familiar with the report told CNN. The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed there is widespread theft of humanitarian aid by Hamas. They have said that only the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF), a private US and Israel-backed organization, is able to distribute assistance to the besieged enclave without such theft occurring. 'We want to see as much aid getting into Gaza as possible in a way that is not being looted by Hamas, and this mechanism, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been a way to do that,' State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said Thursday. 'We're calling for additional support of that foundation to deliver that aid.' The USAID findings were presented to officials working in the State Department's Middle East bureau, as well as people working on humanitarian aid and the USAID Office of the Inspector General. USAID ceased operations on July 1 and some of its work was transferred to the State Department. However, the USAID watchdog remains operational. It is unclear if the findings have been relayed to State Department leadership. More than 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the United Nations, with 60% killed while trying to reach GHF sites. Thousands are suffering from malnutrition and more than a dozen people have starved to death this week amid ongoing Israeli restrictions on aid. A State Department spokesperson claimed there is 'endless video evidence of Hamas looting' and 'intelligence' showing that 'a significant portion of non-GHF aid trucks have been diverted, looted, stolen, or 'self-distributed.'' The spokesperson did not provide examples of the video evidence. They also accused aid workers of lying about looting 'in a poor attempt at an aid corruption coverup.' 'As the situation on the ground develops, we will continue to assess the most effective way to deliver aid to the people of Gaza,' the spokesperson said. The USAID analysis, which was completed in late June, noted that 'the majority of incidents could not be definitively attributed to a specific actor.' 'Partners often largely discovered that commodities had been stolen in transit without identifying the perpetrator,' the presentation said. Given the perpetrator could not be identified, it is possible that Hamas has stolen aid, two sources said. However, they cast doubt on the idea that there would be systemic theft without any evidence. Humanitarian officials in the past have also said they did not experience widespread diversion. One of the sources noted that USAID does not vet the beneficiaries of its aid, so in theory, the families of Hamas government officials in Gaza could have received aid, 'but that's not an armed faction of Hamas. That's the population of Gaza.' The USAID analysis found that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) 'was either directly or indirectly responsible for the loss' of US-provided aid in 28% of incidents of theft or waste between October 2023 and May 2025. The finding was based on the reports from partners organizations. According to a presentation of the analysis, this included the loss of goods due to 'airstrikes, evacuation orders, or IDF direction to use high risk delivery routes against partner requests.' 'Partners often noted that looting occurred en route (to distribution sites) despite extensive coordination with the IDF,' the presentation said. 'When partners desired to take alternate routes due to high risk of theft or looting, they were forced by the IDF to take riskier routes with known threats putting commodities at risk.' CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment.
BreakingNews.ie
16-07-2025
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
At least 20 Palestinians die in stampede at food distribution centre
At least 20 Palestinians have been killed at a food distribution centre run by an Israeli-backed American organisation in the Gaza Strip, mostly from being trampled, the group said. They were the first deaths reported at one of the group's sites although hundreds have been killed by Israeli forces on the roads leading to them, according to witnesses and health officials. Advertisement Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 41 others, including 11 children, according to hospital officials. The Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) accused the Hamas militant group of fomenting unrest at the food distribution centre, leading to a 'dangerous surge', but it provided no evidence to support the claim. A Palestinian child waits for donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Witnesses said GHF guards threw stun grenades and used pepper spray on people pressing to get into the site before it opened, causing a panic in the narrow, fenced-in entrance. Since the group's operations began in late May, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in shootings by Israeli soldiers while on roads heading to the sites. Advertisement GHF's four sites are all in military-controlled zones, and the Israeli military has said its troops have only fired warning shots to control crowds. Gaza's more than two million Palestinians are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, and the territory is teetering on the edge of famine, according to food security experts. GHF said it believed that 19 of the dead died from trampling at its food distribution centre between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah and one was killed by a stabbing in the crowd. The Gaza Health Ministry said 17 people suffocated at the site and three others were shot. Advertisement It was not clear if the shootings took place during the crush or earlier on the road to the centre. The witnesses did not report shots fired at the centre but said Israeli troops fired toward the crowds as they headed to it. Witnesses said that thousands of Palestinians arrived at the site early in the morning, and the American contractors guarding it did not open the gates. It was not clear if it was before the site's opening time or if it was not operating at all, since schedules often change. The crowd surged forward at the turnstiles in the fenced-in entranceway, said one survivor, Ahmed Abu Amra. 'The Americans were calling out on the loudspeakers, 'go back, go back.' But no one could turn around because it was so crowded,' he said. 'Everyone was on top of each other. We tried to pull out the people who were underneath, but we couldn't. The Americans were throwing stun grenades at us.' Advertisement Other witnesses said the contractors used pepper spray as well. The Health Ministry said tear gas was used, but GHF denied that and said its contractors deployed 'limited use of pepper spray'. 'Everyone suffocated from people crushing on top of each other,' said Omar al-Najjar, a Rafah resident, as he and other men carried a wounded man on a stretcher. He said the chaos at the sites is forcing Palestinians to 'march towards death'. Smoke rises from Israeli bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip (Maya Alleruzzo/AP) GHF said it believed elements in the crowd 'armed and affiliated with Hamas' fomented the unrest. It said that its contractors identified men with firearms in the crowd and confiscated one. Distribution at the GHF sites has often been chaotic. Boxes of food are left stacked on the ground inside the centre and, once opened, crowds charge in to grab whatever they can, according to witnesses and videos released by GHF itself. Advertisement In videos obtained recently by The Associated Press from an American contractor working with GHF, contractors are seen using tear gas and stun grenades to keep crowds back behind metal fences or to force them to disperse. Gunshots can also be heard. The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday that 875 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food since May. Of those, 674 were killed while en route to GHF food sites. The rest were reportedly killed while waiting for aid trucks entering Gaza. Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 22 people in Gaza City, including 11 children and three women, and 19 others in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said it has struck more than 120 targets in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, including Hamas military infrastructure of tunnels and weapons storage facilities. Gaza's Health Ministry said on Wednesday that hospitals have received a total of 94 bodies over the past 24 hours, with another 252 wounded.
Associated Press
16-07-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
The Latest: 20 die in stampede at Gaza food distribution site as Israeli strikes kill 41 others
A stampede at a food distribution site run by an Israeli-backed American organization in the Gaza Strip killed 20 Palestinians on Wednesday, the group said, in the first acknowledgment of deadly violence at its operations. The Gaza Humanitarian Fund, an American organization backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip's population, said 19 people were trampled in a stampede and one person was fatally stabbed at a hub in the southern city of Khan Younis. The organization accused the Hamas militant group of fomenting panic and spreading misinformation that led to the violence, though it provided no evidence to support the claim. The deaths came as Israeli strikes killed 41 others, including 11 children, in Gaza City and Khan Younis, according to hospital officials. The Israeli military said it has struck more than 120 targets in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, including Hamas military infrastructure of tunnels and weapons storage facilities. Israel blames Hamas for the civilian deaths because the group often operates in residential areas. Here's the latest: Israel strikes near defense ministry in Damascus The Israeli army said Wednesday that it struck near the entrance to the Syrian Ministry of Defense in Damascus, as clashes continued in the southern Syrian city of Sweida after a ceasefire between government forces and Druze armed groups collapsed. Israel has launched a series of airstrikes on convoys of government forces in southern Syria since the clashes erupted and has beefed up forces on the border. It has said it is acting to protect the Druze religious minority. The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. Stun grenades and pepper spray caused chaos at food distribution site Gaza's Health Ministry and witnesses said GHF workers used tear gas against the crowd outside one of its food distribution hubs, causing a panic. The ministry said that it was the first time people have been killed by a stampede at the aid sites. 'They used stun grenades and pepper spray against us. They had aid inside, but they intentionally did not distribute it to let people crowd outside,″ said Abdullah Aleyat, who was at the GHF site on Wednesday morning. Omar Al-Najjar, a resident of the nearby city of Rafah, said people were gasping for air, possibly from tear gas. The injuries were 'not from gunfire, but from people clustering and pushing against each other,' Al-Najjar said as he carried an injured stranger to a hospital. The sites are inside Israeli military zones protected by private American contractors. Israel troops surround the sites, but the army says they are not in the immediate vicinity. The United Nations human rights office and Gaza's Health Ministry said Tuesday that 875 Palestinians in the enclave have been killed while seeking food since May, with 674 of those in the vicinity of aid distribution sites run by GHF.
South China Morning Post
16-07-2025
- South China Morning Post
20 killed near Gaza distribution site, mostly in stampede, aid group says
An Israeli-backed American organisation that runs an aid programme in the Gaza Strip said Wednesday that 20 Palestinians were killed near a distribution site. This comes as Israeli strikes killed 22 others, including 11 children, according to hospital officials. The Gaza Humanitarian Fund said 19 people were trampled in a stampede and one person was fatally stabbed in the violence near a distribution hub in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The group, which rarely acknowledges trouble at its distribution sites, accused Hamas of fomenting panic and spreading misinformation that led to the violence, though it provided no evidence to support the claim. Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinians are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, setting off the 21-month war, Israel has bombarded and laid siege to the strip, leaving many teetering on the edge of famine, according to food security experts. GHF is an American organisation registered in Delaware. It was established in February to distribute humanitarian aid during the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis. Since the GHF sites began operating, Palestinians say Israeli troops open fire almost every day toward crowds on roads heading to the distribution points, through Israeli military zones.
Times
12-07-2025
- Health
- Times
At least 50 Palestinians killed near aid centres in Gaza
At least 50 Palestinians have been shot dead near aid distribution centres in Gaza on Monday, the Hamas-run health ministry said, after witnesses said Israeli troops had opened fire. According to the ministry, at least 23 of the victims were killed near an aid distribution site in Rafah, in the south of the strip. About 200 others were wounded in the same incident. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks near aid distribution centres, with witnesses saying they had come under fire from Israeli soldiers. Israel's military did not comment immediately on the latest incident, but has acknowledged in the past that its troops had fired warning shots against 'suspicious' people heading to the aid centres, while blaming militants for provoking the violence. • Israel-Iran live: Tehran TV station reports attack as thousands flee city The killings had added pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the territory after a three-month siege brought it to the brink of famine, according to the UN. The UN has begun bringing in much-needed supplies, but it complains that the amount allowed in by Israel is insufficient. It has also been critical of a new US and Israeli-backed organisation, the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF), that has employed armed contractors to hand out aid at several distribution sites, close to where the shootings have taken place. The GHF said in a statement on Monday that it has distributed more than three million meals at its four distribution sites without incident. The group has been mired in controversy after two top executives quit, citing the constraints on their work. A leading American consultancy also cancelled its contract with the group and suspended its lead employee on the project. The Hamas-run health ministry said the shootings on Monday took place in southern Gaza, where the GHF had set up its centres. If confirmed, it would be the deadliest such incident yet. After ceasefire talks with Hamas unravelled last month, Israel launched a new operation aimed at destroying Hamas, freeing the hostages it still holds, and 'encouraging' Gaza's 2.1 million inhabitants to leave the devastated territory. Britain, France and Canada had threatened Israel with sanctions over the new operation, with Britain suspending trade talks and sanctioning two extremist Israeli ministers. The war began in October 2023 after Hamas attacked Israel, killing more than 1,100 people and kidnapping more than 200. More than 56,000 Palestinians have been killed since, according to the health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants. It is run by Hamas, but its tolls are viewed as generally reliable by the UN. Volker Türk, the UN human rights chief, called on governments to pressure Israel on Monday to end the war, as attention shifted to Israel's conflict with Iran, which rained missiles on Israeli cities. 'Israel's means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza,' Türk said at a UN meeting.
