American-Israeli GHF distributes emergency aid from four militarized, heavily guarded distribution centers in the Gaza Strip. The distributions take place according to a "first come, first served" principle, where opening hours are announced at short notice and the centers are then closed without warning. The food – flour, rice, pasta – runs out on average in nine minutes, according to Sky News.
Around 600 Palestinians have been killed in connection with the distributions, according to Gaza authorities, which has led charity organizations and UN representatives to label them as "death traps".
"Israeli authorities have turned the search for help into a death trap for desperate, starving Palestinians," Amnesty writes in a report on Thursday.
Triple increase
Now, Sky News' mapping shows significantly higher numbers of killed and injured in Gaza on the days when GHF is open. Days with two or fewer aid distributions are reported to have an average of 48 dead and 189 injured in Gaza – days with five or six distributions have almost three times as many victims.
In total, 30 percent of all distributions between June 5 and July 1 have ended in bloodshed, according to the media company's analysis.
GHF's CEO Johnnie Moore, an American pastor and businessman close to President Donald Trump, denies that the deaths can be linked to the organization's activities.
Almost everything that happens in the Gaza Strip happens near something else, he says to Sky News.
"Fields of death"
The newspaper Haaretz and news agency AP have previously reported on how Israeli soldiers and American guards shoot live ammunition at aid seekers at GHF centers.
A soldier told Haaretz that the army's ethical codes have "completely broken down". Another described the areas around the centers as "fields of death" where crowds are controlled by artillery fire.
Palestinian Huda got shrapnel in a leg at GHF's facility in central Gaza, called SDS4. Aid seekers are forced to dodge bullets to get a bag of rice or pasta, she tells Sky News.
Despite that, I return, because we have absolutely nothing (to eat) in our tent.
Mia Holmberg Karlsson/TT
Facts: Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
TT
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is an organization that the US, with the support of Israel, launched at the beginning of May.
The idea is that GHF will handle all distribution of food, medicine, and other aid to war-torn Gaza, where almost the entire population is at risk of starvation due to Israel's previous total blockade of emergency aid for two months.
The US is excluding the UN and other established organizations, citing that previous aid routes have allowed Hamas and other terrorist-classified groups to seize them. According to the UN, the exclusion contributes to GHF's operations being unable to live up to humanitarian principles.
The foundation's CEO Jake Wood left his post shortly after the start, citing that the work could not be carried out according to humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence. The current CEO is American Johnnie Moore, who previously dismissed reports of deaths at distribution centers as "fictional massacres".
