Controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Terminates Aid Operations
The disputed, US and Israel-backed Gaza relief foundation declares it is winding down its aid operations in the Gaza region, after almost six months.
The group had already suspended its several relief locations in Gaza subsequent to the truce agreement between Hamas and Israel came into force in recent weeks.
The GHF aimed to avoid UN systems as the main supplier of aid to Gaza's population.
UN and other aid agencies declined to participate with its methodology, claiming it was improper and dangerous.
Numerous Gazans were lost their lives while seeking food amid chaotic scenes near the organization's distribution points, mainly through Israeli military action, as reported by United Nations.
Israeli authorities stated its forces fired cautionary rounds.
Mission Completion
The foundation announced on the beginning of the week that it was winding down operations now because of the "effective conclusion of its humanitarian effort", with a total of three million packages containing the amounting to in excess of 187 million sustenance units provided to residents.
The organization's top administrator, the executive director, additionally stated the United States-operated coordination body - which has been created to help implement the United States' Palestinian peace proposal - would be "adopting and expanding the system the foundation tested".
"The foundation's approach, in which Hamas could no longer loot and profit from stealing aid, was significantly influential in getting Hamas to the table and achieving a ceasefire."
Reactions and Responses
The Palestinian faction - which refutes aid diversion claims - welcomed the closure of the aid organization, according to reports.
An official from said the organization should be subject to scrutiny for the negative impact it created to local residents.
"We request all worldwide humanitarian bodies to ensure that it does not escape accountability after leading to casualties and wounds of thousands of Gazans and covering up the food deprivation strategy employed by the Israel's administration."
Organization Timeline
The foundation started work in Gaza on late May, a seven days following the Israeli government had moderately reduced a complete restriction on humanitarian and trade shipments to Gaza that lasted 11 weeks and resulted in critical deficits of essential supplies.
After 90 days, a famine was declared in Gaza City.
The foundation's nourishment distribution centers in southern and central Gaza were managed by US private security contractors and positioned in areas controlled by Israeli forces.
Aid Organization Objections
The UN and its partners stated the methodology violated the core assistance standards of non-partisanship, even-handedness and self-determination, and that channelling desperate people into military-controlled areas was intrinsically hazardous.
United Nations human rights division said it recorded the fatalities of no fewer than 859 Gazans seeking food in the area surrounding organization centers between late May through end of July.
A further 514 persons were lost their lives close to the paths taken by United Nations and additional relief shipments, it added.
Most of them were killed by the Israel's armed forces, as per the organization's documentation.
Divergent Narratives
Israel's armed services stated its troops had fired warning shots at people who approached them in a "threatening" fashion.
The foundation stated there were no shootings at the aid sites and claimed the international organization of using "untrue and confusing" figures from the Gazan medical department controlled by militant factions.
Ongoing Situation
The GHF's future had been uncertain since Hamas and Israel agreed a truce agreement to carry out the primary segment of Trump's peace plan.
The agreement stated relief provision would take place "free from intervention from the two parties through the UN organizations and their partners, and the international relief society, in combination with other worldwide bodies not linked whatsoever" with Hamas and Israel.
International organization official the UN spokesman declared this week that the foundation's closure would have "zero effect" on its work "because we never worked with them".
The official further mentioned that while increased relief was entering the region since the halt in hostilities began on early October, it was "insufficient to satisfy all requirements" of the 2.1 million population.