Aid Groups Urge End to GHF Aid Distribution in Gaza

Put an end to the "lethal Israeli distribution" of aid in Gaza, including the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and return to a UN-led system. The demand is made by 169 aid organizations in a joint statement.

» Published: July 01 2025

Aid Groups Urge End to GHF Aid Distribution in Gaza
Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP/TT

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Among the signatories are large and well-known organizations such as Oxfam, Save the Children, War Child, Plan, Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders.

Over the past month, headlines about chaos and gunfire at GHF's aid centers have been frequent. According to aid organizations, over 500 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 4,000 injured as they tried to get aid. Similar figures come from health authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Strict selection

GHF is a heavily criticized Israeli-American initiative that began its efforts to distribute aid in Gaza at the end of May. This happened after international condemnations and repeated warnings of starvation, referring to Israel's blockade of Gaza in the spring - and after the UN and other established organizations were shut out.

GHF has been sharply criticized. Its strict selection of who receives aid, including through facial recognition, is described by experts as an attempt to use food as a military weapon.

In contrast to the UN system's approximately 400 distribution points, GHF has only a handful of centers in southern and central Gaza. It is at these that Palestinians have lost their lives, when they were shot by the military in the crowd of hungry people waiting for food packages.

"The Israeli government is forcing starving and weakened civilians to walk for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones, only to be faced with a violent, chaotic scramble for an enclosed, militarized distribution site," the statement says.

Poses a danger?

According to Israel, they only shoot at people who behave suspiciously and pose a danger.

But the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has published testimonies from soldiers in recent days, claiming that the military is deliberately shooting at Palestinians near aid stations, even if they do not pose a threat.

The ongoing Gaza war was triggered by the terrorist-stamped Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.

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By TTEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for local and international readers
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