 "US and Israel-backed aid agency tied to multiple deaths in Gaza announces suspension of operations")
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the organisation backed by the US and Israel, which was at the centre of controversy surrounding the deaths of several Palestinians, has suspended operations in the region.
The GHF ran four food distribution centres in the region and was linked to death and chaos between May and October this year. It said that it will cease operations in Gaza after “successfully completing its emergency mission”.
The agency, supposedly owned privately by stakeholders in the US and Israel, was created as an alternative to the United Nations, which both the countries had accused of not doing an adequate job in providing relief to Gazans.
GHF linked to deaths?
More than 1,000 Palestinians attempting to obtain aid from GHF sites were killed or injured by Israeli military forces guarding access points to the organisation’s distribution centres in central and southern Gaza, according to witnesses interviewed by the Guardian, as well as medical records and videos posted on social media.
Between 25 May and 19 June, the Red Cross clinic in Rafah treated 1,874 “weapon-wounded patients,” with the vast majority reporting they were hurt while trying to reach aid at GHF sites.
While the Israeli military has denied accusations, GHF has acknowledged that many Palestinians died while reaching to its centres on foot. Contractors working on site have reportedly said that US security guards fired live ammunition at aid seekers.
GHF shutters centres
John Acree, a former senior official at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), said that GHF would hand over its operations to the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), the new US-established body in Israel responsible for overseeing the ceasefire and coordinating aid delivery in Gaza.
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View All“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 agency has closed all of its centres in Gaza after the US-backed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect last month. In a statement, GHF said that it distributed 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”.
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