A controversial and secretive private company backed by the US and Israel that distributed food in Gaza has announced the end of its operations in the devastated territory.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which had four food distribution sites that became flashpoints of chaos and deadly violence between May and October, said in a statement that it would shut down permanently, having “successfully completed its emergency mission”.
International aid organisations refused to work with the GHF, which was launched as famine loomed in Gaza after the total blockade on all supplies imposed by Israel in March.
The opaque company was considered by Israeli and US officials as an alternative to the United Nations, which the countries accused of failing to distribute aid efficiently and criticised over the looting in the territory.
Israel also accused Hamas of systematically diverting aid from the needy to fund its political, social and military operations.
Throughout the war, the UN led a massive humanitarian effort with other aid groups, distributing food, medicine, fuel and other supplies at more than 400 centres around Gaza despite massive logistical obstacles and tight restrictions imposed by Israel.
In August, a UN-mandated expert panel alleged that under the GHF aid was “exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas”.
More than 1,000 Palestinians seeking aid from GHF sites were killed or injured by Israeli military forces which guarded the approaches to the company’s distribution sites in central and southern Gaza, according to witnesses interviewed by the Guardian, medical records and videos posted to social media.
Between 25 May and 19 June, the Red Cross clinic in the southern city of Rafah saw 1,874 “weapon-wounded patients”, with the vast majority reporting they were wounded trying to access aid from GHF sites.
The Israeli military said it only fired warning shots as a crowd-control measure or if its troops were in danger.
The GHF denied any violence in the aid sites themselves but acknowledged the potential dangers people faced when travelling to them on foot. Contractors working at the sites, backed by video accounts, said the US security guards fired live ammunition and stun grenades as desperate Palestinians scrambled for food.
John Acree, a former senior official at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), said that GHF would transfer its work to the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), the new centre set up by the US in Israel to oversee the ceasefire and aid delivery in Gaza.
“GHF has been in talks with CMCC and international organisations now for weeks about the way forward and it’s clear they will be adopting and expanding the model GHF piloted,” he said.
The GHF had closed its distribution sites after the US-brokered ceasefire took effect in Gaza last month. All were in the part of Gaza that is under Israel’s control and so were inaccessible to Palestinians.
In its statement, the GHF said it had delivered more than 187m meals directly to civilians living in Gaza, which it called “a record humanitarian operation that ensured food aid reached Palestinian families safely and without diversion to Hamas or other entities”.
Acree said: “At a critical juncture, we are proud to have been the only aid operation that reliably and safely provided free meals directly to Palestinian people in Gaza, at scale and without diversion … We built a new model that worked, saved lives, and restored dignity to civilians in Gaza.”
Acree’s predecessor resigned, saying it was “not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence”.
The US state department thanked GHF for its humanitarian work and its contribution to reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.
Tommy Pigott, a spokesperson for the US state department, wrote on X: “GHF’s model, in which Hamas could no longer loot and profit from stealing aid, played a huge role in getting Hamas to the table and achieving a ceasefire. We thank them for all that they provided to Gazans.”
A spokesperson for Hamas said the GHF should be held accountable for the harm it caused to Palestinians.
“We call upon all international human rights organisations to ensure that it does not escape accountability after causing the death and injury of thousands of Gazans and covering up the starvation policy practised by the [Israeli] government,” Hazem Qassem wrote on his Telegram channel.
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