The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) announced on Monday evening that it had begun aid distribution operations in the Gaza Strip.
The aid organization said that trucks had begun delivering aid supplies to distribution hubs in the Gaza Strip and released media showing the delivery trucks, as well as Palestinians receiving aid packets.
“More trucks with aid will be delivered tomorrow, with the flow of aid increasing each day,” the foundation said in a statement.
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Israel has backed the GHF organization as a way of distributing aid directly to Gaza residents, while minimizing both the risk of Hamas stealing the aid and relieving the IDF of the responsibility of distributing aid while fighting a war.
The foundation began its operations one day after the founding CEO Jake Wood announced his resignation, insinuating that the organization would not be able to operate in a manner consistent with “the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon.”
Wood did not clarify what specifically prevents the organization from operating according to those principles, but some critics have said some Gaza residents would be severely hindered from reaching aid distribution points due to Hamas resistance and having to pass close to areas of active combat.
Some friction in the aid distribution has already been seen, with the GHF condemning threats by Hamas against aid groups, including Palestinian groups, which have agreed to work with the foundation, and attempts to prevent Palestinians from reaching the distribution points.
“It is clear that Hamas is threatened by this new operating model, and will do everything in its power to see it fail,” GHF said in its statement.
The foundation also announced the appointment of John Acree as its interim executive director, following Wood’s departure.
The GHF noted that Acree is a “senior humanitarian practitioner with more than two decades of global field experience in disaster response, stabilization programming, and civil-military coordination.”
Several other organizations and groups have agreed to work with GHF both to prepare aid and to help with its distribution, including the U.S.-based aid group Rahma Worldwide. Several boxes distributed by GHF on Monday had the logo of Rahma Worldwide.
At the same time, reports from Gaza indicate that a Palestinian Authority-affiliated group, led by former gang leader Yasser Abu Shabab, who has often clashed with Hamas over the seizure of humanitarian aid, has begun helping to secure aid deliveries into Gaza.
A Facebook page under the same name claims that the group is not a humanitarian organization, nor is it trying to be “a substitute for the state or institutions,” claiming Shahab is simply a popular leader who “is standing against corruption and plunder, doing everything he can to protect aid and ensure it reaches the deserving people with dignity and justice.”
The Hamas Ministry of Interior on Monday warned Palestinians not to participate in the new aid distribution system, claiming it is an “attempt by the occupation and its security forces to circumvent the control of aid.”
The Hamas-run ministry said that if Palestinians refuse to participate, it would force Israel to return to distributing aid through the U.N. Hamas has been documented multiple times throughout the war taking aid from U.N. warehouses or directly commandeering aid convoys driven by U.N. operators.
“The failure of the occupation in its new plan depends on the citizens’ lack of response and their categorical rejection of it, which will force the occupation to return to the previously implemented system of distributing aid through official institutions affiliated with the United Nations,” the Hamas ministry said in a statement.
Hamas also threatened to retaliate against “anyone who cooperates.”
“We will not hesitate to carry out our duty in securing and protecting aid trucks, and we will not allow the creation of bodies that serve as agents of the occupation in the areas controlled by its army. Anyone who cooperates with the occupation in imposing its agenda will pay the price, and we will take the necessary measures against him,” the ministry threatened.
Last week, Haaretz editor for National Security, Open Source Intel, and Cyber stories, Avi Scharf, posted satellite imagery from Planet Labs, which appears to show the locations of at least three distribution areas within the Gaza Strip.
The pictures show areas which have been completely cleared and prepped for the distribution of humanitarian aid, with broad security perimeters, allowing for aid to be distributed without fear of an attack on the sites.
GHF did not release any figures for how many Palestinians received aid or the amount of aid delivered, however, The Washington Post wrote in a report that a relatively small number of people came to collect the aid. The distribution operation is reportedly guarded by the American security contractor Safe Reach Solutions (SRS).
This article was originally published by All Israel News.
ALL ISRAEL NEWS is based in Jerusalem and is a trusted source of news, analysis and information from Israel to our Christian friends around the world.
