 "US approves $30m grant for controversial aid group despite rights group calling for its suspension")
The Trump administration has authorised a $30 million grant to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the aid group that has been at the centre of controversy after several people died collecting food at their distribution centres across the region.
According to a report by The Guardian, the US State Department has already disbursed the first tranche of the amount worth $7 million. GHF, a US and Israel-backed aid group, came to play in Gaza after the UN was banned from operating in the region, depriving its people of food and other essentials for several weeks.
Insiders revealed that the grant application was pushed through the State Department at an unusually fast pace, particularly for a first-time applicant that would typically be subject to an audit before qualifying for USAID funding.
A source told the news outlet, “It was pushed through over the technical and ethical objections of career staff.” Meanwhile, the State Department has said, “We are not going to comment on internal deliberations. We are constantly looking for creative solutions to get aid into Gaza without it being looted by Hamas, and GHF stepped up.”
Sources told Reuters that by approving the US funding for the GHF, the State Department exempted the foundation, which has not publicly disclosed its finances, from an audit usually required for groups receiving USAID grants for the first time.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsRights groups seek suspension of GHF
Meanwhile, as many as 15 rights groups have warned GHF that they might face legal challenges over international law violations and have called on it and other private organisations to cease their operations in the region.
In a letter addressed to GHF and the affiliated Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions, the rights groups wrote that the “private contractors” working to feed Gazans in collaboration with the Israeli government risk “aiding and abetting or otherwise being complicit in crimes under international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide”.
Israeli soldiers die in Gaza
Israel’s army on Wednesday said seven of its soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza, where the war with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas continued.
The army’s website listed the names of five soldiers and a platoon commander from the same battalion who “fell during combat in the southern Gaza Strip”.
More than 430 Israeli soldiers have died in the war, triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
With inputs from agencies
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