The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has announced Johnnie Moore, a US evangelical leader staunchly supportive of Israel as its new Executive Chairman.
Moore succeeds the former head of GHF, Jake Wood, who quit the group saying that it is not possible to implement private aid distribution plan “while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.”
Moore has been talking up the foundation’s work in Gaza and denying Israeli attacks, which have killed dozens of Palestinians, near the aid distribution sites. He said, “GHF believes that serving the people of Gaza with dignity and compassion must be the top priority.”
“We welcome others to join us and urge extreme caution against sharing unverified information from sources that have repeatedly issued demonstrably false reports.
“False reporting of violence at our sites has a chilling effect on the local population and we can think of no greater disservice to a community in dire need.”
Johnnie Moore
Shortly before his appointment was announced, Moore wrote on X that he had “several really encouraging meetings with the [Red Cross] in recent weeks.”
The Red Cross has not agreed to participate in the GHF initiative. He said, “We don’t always see eye-to-eye, but we have always found ways to collaborate meaningfully together. We trust one another.”
Moore has served as a liaison between evangelical Christians and US President Donald Trump and is a Commissioner on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. He is outspoken on religious freedom and toleration, and meets regularly with Middle Eastern heads of state.
In February, Moore praised Trump’s plan to remove all Palestinians from Gaza and turn the enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East” in a social media post.
“President Trump always sees war through the eyes of its human cost, & he thinks creatively — never bound by conventional wisdom. He stops wars & makes peace. The USA will take full responsibility for future of Gaza, giving everyone hope & a future.”
Johnnie Moore
UN agencies and the overwhelming majority of the humanitarian community have rejected diverting aid from the existing mechanism to allow GHF to exclusively distribute assistance in Gaza.
Critics say the foundation risks the militarisation and privatisation of the aid and could be used to displace Palestinians in Gaza.
There have been concerns that GHF could be used as a vehicle for displacing Palestinians inside Gaza, and to push them to leave the territory.
Aid Workers Face Hindrance
Meanwhile, Georgia Tacey, Save the Children’s Gaza Response Director told a news agency, that it feels like aid workers in Gaza are working with “two hands tied” behind their backs.
“At the moment, we are just running services instead of being able to deliver a lot of the usual aid like food hygiene kits, shelter kits, because our warehouses are empty and all of our stock is stuck in thousands of trucks on the border.
“[It is] a roller-coaster of emotions here between anger and frustration and despair. … I’ve been working in the sector for 20 years. We haven’t seen anything like this before.”
Georgia Tacey
Referring to the GHF’s takeover of aid distribution in Gaza, she said, “When you have only four distribution sites instead of the 400 that we’re used to working with in terms of the UN and NGO community, people are going to act desperately.”
“This system was set up by design to fail, so all we’re asking is to open those borders. Let us do our jobs. Children cannot unsee what they’ve seen. They can’t unknow what they know now, which is that it appears human rights are only for children in certain countries.”
Georgia Tacey
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