International charities and NGOs call for end to controversial Israeli-backed aid group in Gaza – UK Times

Dozens of international charities and non-governmental organizations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty, called Tuesday for an Israeli and U.S.-backed aid mechanism for Gaza to disband over repeated incidents of chaos and deadly violence against Palestinians heading toward its sites.

More than 165 major international charities and non-governmental organizations called for an immediate end to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which the U.S. and Israel backed to take over aid distribution in Gaza from a network led by the United Nations.

“Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the group said in a joint news release.

The call by the charities and NGOs was the latest sign of trouble for the GHF, a secretive U.S.- and Israeli-backed initiative headed by an evangelical leader who is a close ally of Trump.

The GHF started distributing aid on May 26, following a nearly three-month Israeli blockade that pushed Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people to the brink of famine.

In a statement Tuesday, the organization said it has delivered more than 52 million meals over five weeks.

“Instead of bickering and throwing insults from the sidelines, we would welcome other humanitarian groups to join us and feed the people in Gaza,” the statement said. “We are ready to collaborate and help them get their aid to people in need.”

Last month, the organization said there has been no violence in or around its distribution centers and that its personnel have not opened fire. It has called for the Israeli military to investigate allegations from Gaza’s Health Ministry that more than 500 Palestinians have been killed at or near the aid-distribution program over the past month.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The GHF is the linchpin of a new aid system that wrested distribution away from aid groups led by the U.N. The new arrangement limits food distribution to a small number of hubs guarded by armed contractors. Currently four hubs are set up, all close to Israeli military positions. Palestinians often must travel long distances to the hubs.

Israel demanded an alternative plan because it accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid. The United Nations and aid groups deny there is significant diversion. They reject the new mechanism, saying it allows Israel to use food as a weapon, violates humanitarian principles and will not be effective.

The Israeli military said it recently took steps to improve organization in the area.

Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians because they operate in populated areas.

At least seven Palestinians were killed seeking aid in southern and central Gaza between late Monday and early Tuesday.

The deaths came after Israeli forces killed at least 74 people in Gaza earlier Monday with airstrikes that left 30 dead at a seaside cafe and gunfire that left 23 dead as Palestinians tried to get desperately needed food aid, witnesses and health officials said.

Next week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Washington to meeting U.S. President Donald Trump and other administration officials. Netanyahu’s visit comes as Trump has signaled he is ready for Israel and Hamas to wind down the war in Gaza, which is likely to be a focus of their talks.

The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of the dead were women and children.

The Hamas attack in October 2023 that sparked the war killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage. Some 50 hostages remain, many of them thought to be dead.