Controversial American-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Terminates Relief Activities
The controversial, US and Israel-backed GHF aid organization declares it is terminating its humanitarian work in the Gaza region, after almost six months.
The foundation had previously halted its multiple aid distribution centers in Gaza after the halt in hostilities between Palestinian factions and Israel came into force in recent weeks.
The foundation sought to avoid UN systems as the main supplier of humanitarian assistance to Gazans.
International relief agencies would not collaborate with its methodology, saying it was unethical and unsafe.
Hundreds of Palestinians were lost their lives while attempting to obtain sustenance amid disorderly situations near the foundation's locations, mainly through Israeli military action, according to the UN.
Israeli authorities stated its troops fired cautionary rounds.
Mission Completion
The GHF said on Monday that it was terminating work now because of the "satisfactory fulfillment 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 GHF's executive director, the executive director, also said the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Centre (CMCC) - which has been established to help carry out US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan - would be "taking over and developing the system the foundation tested".
"GHF's model, in which militant groups were prevented from misappropriating relief supplies, played a huge role in getting Hamas to the table and establishing a truce."
Feedback and Statements
Hamas - which denies stealing aid - welcomed the closure of the humanitarian foundation, according to reports.
An official from stated the foundation should be subject to scrutiny for the damage it inflicted to Palestinians.
"We request all global human rights groups to guarantee that responsibility is assigned after resulting in fatalities and harm of numerous Palestinians and obscuring the food deprivation strategy practised by the Israeli government."
Operational Background
The GHF began operations in Gaza on late May, a week after Israel had partially eased a total blockade on relief and commercial goods to Gaza that persisted for nearly three months and resulted in critical deficits of necessary provisions.
Subsequently, a nutritional emergency was proclaimed in the Palestinian urban center.
The foundation's nourishment distribution centers in the southern and middle regions of Gaza were managed by US private security contractors and situated within regions under Israeli military authority.
Relief Agency Issues
International organizations and their affiliates said the methodology contravened the fundamental humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence, and that channelling desperate people into militarised zones was intrinsically hazardous.
The UN's human rights office said it recorded the fatalities of no fewer than 859 Gazans attempting to obtain nourishment in the area surrounding organization centers between late May through end of July.
Another 514 people were fatally wounded around the routes of UN and other aid convoys, it also mentioned.
The greater part of these people were lost their lives due to the Israeli military, as per the organization's documentation.
Conflicting Accounts
The Israeli military said its soldiers had released alerting fire at individuals who came near them in a "menacing" way.
The GHF said there were no shootings at the distribution centers and accused the UN of using "false and misleading" statistics from the Gazan medical department controlled by militant factions.
Ongoing Situation
The foundation's prospects had been uncertain since Palestinian factions and Israeli authorities consented a truce agreement to carry out the first phase of the United States' reconciliation proposal.
It said aid distribution would take place "without interference from the two parties through the United Nations and its agencies, and the Red Crescent, in combination with other international institutions not associated in any manner" with Palestinian factions and Israeli authorities.
International organization official the international body's communicator declared this week that the GHF's shutdown would have "no influence" on its work "because we never worked with them".
The official further mentioned that while more aid was getting into Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on October 10th, it was "not enough to address all necessities" of the 2.1 million residents.