The UN and other humanitarian organisations had already refused to work with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) on the grounds that doing so would compromise values that are key to reaching civilians in all conflict zones and put at risk their teams and the recipients of aid in Gaza.
They also warned that a newly formed group with no experience would not be able to handle the logistics of feeding more than 2 million people in a devastated combat zone.
Dangerous scenes on Tuesday appeared to confirm many of the fears raised by UN as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation lost control of its distribution centre in Rafah.
Large crowds gathered in southern Rafah as the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opened its first aid distribution point, with thousands of Palestinians storming past barricades in desperation for food after a three-month blockade.
Thousands of Palestinians clambered over fences and pushed through packed crowds to reach life-saving supplies brought by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
However, the newly established Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was not prepared for them and staff at one point were forced to abandon their posts.
The foundation said in a statement, “At one moment in the late afternoon, the volume of people at the SDS [secure distribution centre] was such that the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Palestinians in Gaza to take aid safely and dissipate.”
Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd during the chaos. Amid the buzz of Israeli military helicopters overhead and gunfire rattling in the background, at least three people were killed and dozens were wounded at the aid point situated in Rafah, southern Gaza.
Several people also went missing in the ensuing stampede, officials in Gaza said.
The Israeli military said its soldiers had fired warning shots in the area outside the distribution site and that control was re-established.
Israel is trying to replace the humanitarian organisations that bring aid into Gaza. It has long claimed, without providing evidence, that Hamas disrupts supply networks to profit from aid.
The GHF said its decision to abandon the distribution centre “was done in accordance with GHF protocol to avoid casualties” and that by the end of Tuesday it had handed out 8,000 boxes of food. The foundation said deliveries would be increased during the week.
UN, Aid Groups Slam Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said that the images and videos from the aid points set up by GHF were “heartbreaking, to say the least.” He added, “We and our partners have a detailed, principled, operationally sound plan supported by member states to get aid to a desperate population.”
“Humanitarian aid needs to be distributed in a way that is safe under principles of independence [and] impartiality – in the way we’ve always done it… We saw the plan that they’ve [Gaza Humanitarian Foundation] published and that they presented to us, and it is not done with the parameters that we feel match our principles, which we apply across the board, from Gaza to Sudan to Myanmar, to anywhere you want to talk about.”
Stephane Dujarric
Also, Hardin Lang, Refugees International Vice President for policy and programmes, said that the US-Israel-backed aid initiative is run by military, rather than humanitarian logic. “This is not the way in which you try to feed a population, much less a population that is on the verge of famine,” he asserted.
“The kind of operation that is required to prevent famine, or stop it if it’s already ongoing, is a tremendously large and complex logistical operation. And it’s not just food. You have to have access to medical facilities, access to acute malnutrition centres … which have not been factored into this plan.
“This is not set up to meet the needs of people. It very much feels like it’s been designed to locate people into the south of Gaza – into an area that’s been designated by the Israelis as ‘a humanitarian zone’, as opposed to trying to meet the needs of a very desperate population.”
Hardin Lang
However, the US State Department downplayed the rush at the GHF site and dismissed criticism of the aid programme as “complaints about style.”
Tammy Bruce, the Spokesperson for the US State Department, “Hamas has been opposed to this [aid] dynamic. They have attempted to stop the aid movement through Gaza to these distribution centres, but they have failed.”
“In that kind of environment, it’s not surprising that there might be a few issues involved. But the good news is that those seeking to get aid to the people of Gaza, which is not Hamas, have succeeded.
“The real story is that aid and food is moving into Gaza in a massive scale. We’re looking at 8,000 boxes… This is a complicated environment, and the story is the fact that it’s working.”
Tammy Bruce
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also acknowledged that there had been a “loss of control momentarily” during the food distribution, but added, “Happily, we brought it back under control.”
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