Latest news with #JohnnieMoore
3 days ago
- Health
8 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in shooting near aid distribution center, Gaza officials say
Israel i troops shot and killed at least eight Palestinians near a humanitarian aid distribution center in the Rafah, Gaza, early Saturday, according to hospital officials and Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health. The deadly shooting occurred at the Al-Alam roundabout near an aid center west of Rafah city at around 6 a.m. local time, according to the health ministry. The area is approximately 1 kilometer from an aid distribution center, which the Israel Defense Forces considers an active combat zone during the night when the site is closed. The Israeli- and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation -- which is running aid distribution in Gaza -- closed its aid distribution sites on Friday, without giving a date on when they would reopen. Palestinians in Gaza remain at risk of extreme starvation and famine, the United Nations and other aid groups have warned. Since May 27, when the aid distribution centers were established, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more have been wounded while trying to collect food from the sites, Gaza's Hamas-run Government Media Office said. The Nasser Medical Complex received four out of the eight deceased victims from the incident so far, a source at the hospital told ABC News. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has not responded to ABC News' request for comment. The Israel Defense Forces said it "is aware of the reports of casualties." "Despite prior warnings that the area is an active combat zone during nighttime hours, several suspects attempted to approach IDF troops operating in the Tel al-Sultan area overnight (Saturday), in a manner that posed a threat to the troops," the IDF told ABC News when asked for comment. "The troops called out to the suspects to drive them away, but as they continued advancing in a way that endangered the troops, the soldiers responded with warning shots." Reverend Dr. Johnnie Moore, the new chairman of GHF, told ABC News this week the organization "can't control what happens outside" the distribution points and added that there have been incidents, "as one would expect, in a war, outside of our distribution sites." According to Moore, GHF -- since it was set up 10 days ago -- had distributed "10 million meals to Gazans, to thousands and thousands and thousands of people." The GHF has not specified what it defines as a single "meal."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
New executive chairman of US-backed aid for Gaza hits back at criticism
Talking with ABC News for his first-ever interview, the new executive chairman of the controversial United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) discussed dozens of people being killed near the aid distribution centers and one of the sites being shut down within 10 days of opening. Reverend Dr. Johnnie Moore -- who has twice been appointed by President Donald Trump as a commissioner on the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom -- said the organization "can't control what happens outside" the distribution points and added that there have been incidents, "as one would expect, in a war, outside of our distribution sites." Israel Defense Forces said that its troops opened fire on both Sunday and Tuesday of this week in areas near GHF aid distribution sites in Gaza, stating it has fired shots "towards" people but not at them. The IDF said "suspects" had deviated from specific routes towards the aid hub. According to Moore, "some" deaths in one of the incidents did "come from the IDF" although he also blamed "some" of the deaths on Hamas. At least 57 people were killed and nearly 300 injured, health officials said, between Sunday and Tuesday's shootings, leading GHF to pause its distribution for 24 hours. MORE: Aid distribution resumes in Gaza, humanitarian group says When asked if GHF's aid plan was part of the problem, given that desperate, hungry people had been killed on their way to pick up food, Moore answered, "No, I think that's a quite cynical point of view." "I fundamentally disagree with the premise that our operation is somehow disproportionately imperiling people," he said. According to Moore, GHF -- since it was set up 10 days ago -- had distributed "10 million meals to Gazans, to thousands and thousands and thousands of people." The population of Gaza is around 2.2 million. Addressing the two incidents, Moore said, "Somehow people veered off the secure corridor," and referred to the deaths as "a tragedy." In the wake of such deadly incidents, GHF has since closed its distribution centers. Moore said his organization was "working with others" to make such incidents "less likely to happen" in the future. "I'm not doing this for anybody to die," GHF's executive chairman said. Moore pushed back on the implication that the new aid plan, which was set up at the behest of Israel to counter the alleged looting of aid by Hamas, had been mismanaged. Moore confirmed that Gazans arriving at the aid distribution points didn't need to show any form of ID to get access to aid. When asked by ABC News how he could be sure that Hamas would not profit from aid distributed under his plan, he said there was "no evidence" any of their aid had been seized. The GHF executive said his organization was "very much solving the problem" and, over time, GHF would "put more energy on verification." International aid agencies have refused to participate in GHF's aid distribution operation, stating that it breaches fundamental humanitarian principles, such as the notion that aid should always be distributed at the point of need. The GHF operation has been accused by multiple U.N. organizations of forcing people to have to travel long distances through a perilous war zone to reach the distribution points, which are located in tightly restricted areas. The most vulnerable people in Gaza would appear to be the least likely to be able to access the aid. Moore rejected that premise and said, "over time" he believed they would be able to get aid to the most vulnerable people. International aid agencies have also accused GHF's aid distribution operation of being part of Israel's military strategy, which Moore said was "simply not true." "Palestinians have been presented the grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available through Israel's militarized humanitarian assistance mechanism," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement on Tuesday. "This militarized system endangers lives and violates international standards on aid distribution, as the United Nations has repeatedly warned," Turk's statement continued. Moore said GHF was communicating with the IDF to "manage" the "secure corridors," but he described GHF as an "American organization" with "American contractors." When asked if Israel was funding the organization, at least to some extent, he refused to comment. "There's certain things that we're not gonna talk about or focus on now," Moore told ABC News. GHF has been mired in controversy from the beginning, and it lost Executive Director Jake Wood, a U.S. military veteran, who resigned just before the aid plan launched nearly two weeks ago. Wood cited concerns over the group's impartiality. In an interview days before his resignation, Wood had suggested on CNN that GHF would only be able to scale up its operation to the necessary level to cater for Gaza's population if major aid agencies were to join the operation, something they have all refused to do. As a new executive, Moore said he believed they could scale up the operation to the necessary degree, but said it was not their goal to do it without the cooperation of major aid agencies. "I mean, they're the ones who have said that they won't work with us," he added. "My message to them [international aid agencies] is like, stop criticizing us, just join us, and we can learn from them if people have better idea." As of Thursday, the aid sites were shut down and then briefly re-opened and then closed again at two sites in Rafah, Gaza, GHF said. Moore said the ultimate aim was to have significantly more than eight distribution centers and said he thought that "big organizations" would eventually cooperate with GHF. New executive chairman of US-backed aid for Gaza hits back at criticism originally appeared on
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 days ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Johnny Moore… What Do We Know About Chairman of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
As the world condemned the killings this week of dozens of hungry Palestinians near US-backed aid sites in Gaza, the group responsible for distributing that aid quietly appointed a new leader: an evangelical Christian with ties to the Trump administration. The group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which was founded last year, announced on Tuesday that Johnnie Moore, an American public relations professional, would be its new executive chairman after the previous chief quit. Moore's appointment comes as the foundation, which began handing out food boxes last week, temporarily halted operations on Wednesday to work on 'organization and efficiency.' It had been racked by a resignation in its ranks, chaos at its distribution sites and violence nearby, including two shooting episodes in which dozens of Palestinians were killed, according to local health workers. Here is what to know about Moore and his ties to the Trump administration. A presence in the Oval Office Moore was a spokesman for Liberty University, the Christian institution founded in Lynchburg, Virginia., in 1971 by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, for a dozen years before moving into the media industry and starting his own faith-based public relations firm. He represented early evangelical supporters of President Trump, including Jerry Falwell Jr, who succeeded his father at Liberty University, and Paula White, who now leads the White House faith office. Moore was co-chairman of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign's evangelical advisory board and an influential figure during Trump's first administration. He was part of a coalition of Christian leaders who paid regular visits to the White House, attending policy briefings, as well as prayer meetings in the Oval Office. His public relations company, Kairos, was acquired in 2022 by JDA Worldwide, and Moore now serves as president of that larger firm. When he announced the acquisition on social media, Moore referred to his work in public relations as his 'day job' as he has had many other roles and projects linked to his faith and interest in foreign policy, including writing books on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Africa. In 2017, Moore told The New York Times that he and other evangelicals had pressed Trump to recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and to move the US Embassy there. 'It has been an issue of priority for a long time,' he said. Moore describes himself as 'a bridge builder and peacemaker especially known for consequential work at the intersection of faith and foreign policy, especially in the Middle East.' The embassy move drew condemnation from Palestinian and Arab leaders, the heads of many Christian churches in Jerusalem and much of the international community, which has long viewed the status of Jerusalem as a matter to be resolved through negotiations over a future Palestinian state. A cheerleader for Mike Huckabee Moore, like many evangelicals, including Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, is committed to a Jewish state based on his interpretation of the Bible. Some evangelicals view their support for Israel as an important element of their belief in biblical prophecy. Speaking to The Washington Post in 2018, Moore said he had advised White House officials that 'those who bless Israel will be blessed.' Moore cheered Huckabee's nomination, saying on social media in November that 'selecting a lifelong non-Jewish Zionist as the US ambassador to Israel sends a powerful message to friend and foe of America.' Huckabee, 69, and Moore, 41, have walked similar paths as public figures and Christian media creators, and they have been described as friends in Israeli news media. The embassy did not respond to a request for comment on their relationship. The new face of a troubled Gaza organization Israel imposed a blockade on supplies entering the Gaza Strip in March, accusing Hamas of looting humanitarian aid. That embargo was lifted to a limited degree last month, after the international community raised alarms about widespread hunger in the enclave. Israelis conceived of the new system to establish aid distribution sites run by American security contractors in the enclave. It was meant, officials said, to circumvent Hamas, which Israel accused of stealing assistance meant for civilians. But the rollout of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's operation has been chaotic. Its previous head resigned hours before the initiative was set to begin late last month, citing a lack of autonomy. On Tuesday, Boston Consulting Group, a US advisory firm, said that it had stepped back from its involvement with the organization, that it had placed a partner who had worked on the project on leave and that it would conduct an internal review of its work. Humanitarian organizations have criticized the foundation's approach to aid distribution for a lack of independence from Israel, whose soldiers are positioned near the sites and have fired what the Israeli military has called 'warning' shots on multiple occasions. And the United Nations has refused to have anything to do with the effort because it says Israel is militarizing and politicizing humanitarian assistance and putting Palestinians in danger. As reports of disarray at aid distribution sites emerged during the project's first week, Moore said the effort was 'working' and should be 'celebrated.' When the Gazan health authorities reported shooting deaths near one of the foundation's sites, Moore reposted a statement from Huckabee accusing the news media and Hamas of spreading misinformation. Moore lists 18 years of service with World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization, among his volunteer experiences, along with his new appointment at the Gaza foundation and his roles on various advisory boards, including that of the nonpartisan advocacy group Muslim Coalition for America and Haifa University in Israel. In a statement about his appointment, Moore said he would help 'ensure the humanitarian aid community and the broader international community understand what's taking place on the ground.' The foundation declined a request for an interview. *Ephrat Livni is a reporter for The New York Times' DealBook newsletter, based in Washington.
3 days ago
- Politics
New executive chairman of US-backed aid for Gaza hits back at criticism
Talking with ABC News for his first-ever interview, the new executive chairman of the controversial United States -backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) discussed dozens of people being killed near the aid distribution centers and one of the sites being shut down within 10 days of opening. Reverend Dr. Johnnie Moore -- who has twice been appointed by President Donald Trump as a commissioner on the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom -- said the organization "can't control what happens outside" the distribution points and added that there have been incidents, "as one would expect, in a war, outside of our distribution sites." Israel Defense Forces said that its troops opened fire on both Sunday and Tuesday of this week in areas near GHF aid distribution sites in Gaza, stating it has fired shots "towards" people but not at them. The IDF said "suspects" had deviated from specific routes towards the aid hub. According to Moore, "some" deaths in one of the incidents did "come from the IDF" although he also blamed "some" of the deaths on Hamas. At least 57 people were killed and nearly 300 injured, health officials said, between Sunday and Tuesday's shootings, leading GHF to pause its distribution for 24 hours. When asked if GHF's aid plan was part of the problem, given that desperate, hungry people had been killed on their way to pick up food, Moore answered, "No, I think that's a quite cynical point of view." "I fundamentally disagree with the premise that our operation is somehow disproportionately imperiling people," he said. According to Moore, GHF -- since it was set up 10 days ago -- had distributed "10 million meals to Gazans, to thousands and thousands and thousands of people." The population of Gaza is around 2.2 million. Addressing the two incidents, Moore said, "Somehow people veered off the secure corridor," and referred to the deaths as "a tragedy." In the wake of such deadly incidents, GHF has since closed its distribution centers. Moore said his organization was "working with others" to make such incidents "less likely to happen" in the future. "I'm not doing this for anybody to die," GHF's executive chairman said. Moore pushed back on the implication that the new aid plan, which was set up at the behest of Israel to counter the alleged looting of aid by Hamas, had been mismanaged. Moore confirmed that Gazans arriving at the aid distribution points didn't need to show any form of ID to get access to aid. When asked by ABC News how he could be sure that Hamas would not profit from aid distributed under his plan, he said there was "no evidence" any of their aid had been seized. The GHF executive said his organization was "very much solving the problem" and, over time, GHF would "put more energy on verification." International aid agencies have refused to participate in GHF's aid distribution operation, stating that it breaches fundamental humanitarian principles, such as the notion that aid should always be distributed at the point of need. The GHF operation has been accused by multiple U.N. organizations of forcing people to have to travel long distances through a perilous war zone to reach the distribution points, which are located in tightly restricted areas. The most vulnerable people in Gaza would appear to be the least likely to be able to access the aid. Moore rejected that premise and said, "over time" he believed they would be able to get aid to the most vulnerable people. International aid agencies have also accused GHF's aid distribution operation of being part of Israel's military strategy, which Moore said was "simply not true." "Palestinians have been presented the grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available through Israel's militarized humanitarian assistance mechanism," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement on Tuesday. "This militarized system endangers lives and violates international standards on aid distribution, as the United Nations has repeatedly warned," Turk's statement continued. Moore said GHF was communicating with the IDF to "manage" the "secure corridors," but he described GHF as an "American organization" with "American contractors." When asked if Israel was funding the organization, at least to some extent, he refused to comment. "There's certain things that we're not gonna talk about or focus on now," Moore told ABC News. GHF has been mired in controversy from the beginning, and it lost Executive Director Jake Wood, a U.S. military veteran, who resigned just before the aid plan launched nearly two weeks ago. Wood cited concerns over the group's impartiality. In an interview days before his resignation, Wood had suggested on CNN that GHF would only be able to scale up its operation to the necessary level to cater for Gaza's population if major aid agencies were to join the operation, something they have all refused to do. As a new executive, Moore said he believed they could scale up the operation to the necessary degree, but said it was not their goal to do it without the cooperation of major aid agencies. "I mean, they're the ones who have said that they won't work with us," he added. "My message to them [international aid agencies] is like, stop criticizing us, just join us, and we can learn from them if people have better idea." As of Thursday, the aid sites were shut down and then briefly re-opened and then closed again at two sites in Rafah, Gaza, GHF said.
Middle East Eye
4 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Gaza humanitarian aid sites close for Eid as Palestinians go hungry
The US-backed so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) announced on Friday that it has closed all its aid distribution centres across the besieged enclave as Palestinians go hungry on one of the holiest days in the Muslim calendar. The group suspended operations after a series of fatal shootings by Israeli forces near the sites, forcing an immediate halt to aid deliveries. The controversial US-backed initiative to distribute aid in Gaza named an evangelical leader and former adviser to US President Donald Trump as its new chief earlier this week. Johnnie Moore, a former member of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, who has dismissed reports of mass killings at the GHF aid sites as 'fictional massacres', was appointed after the initiative's former head, Jake Wood, resigned. The appointment comes as major partners abandon the project amidst the mass killings of Palestinians seeking aid. Wood cited concerns over the GHF's ability to adhere to the 'humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence'. The GHF's first week of operations descended into chaos, with over 75 Palestinian aid seekers killed by Israeli forces at its distribution points in less than six days. Displaced Palestinians walk along a road to receive humanitarian aid packages from a US-backed foundation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on June 5, 2025 (AFP)
