Israeli Gaza Aid Group has to end, say 130 charity organizations

More than 170 charity organizations and other NGOs call for the controversial Gaza aid scheme, managed by Israel -backed and US -supported Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) Foundation, which will be closed.

More than 500 Palestinians were killed while seeking help, as GHF began working in late May, when Israel partially relieved a total of an 11-week-long common blockade, according to a joint statement.

Organizations, including Oxfam and Save the Children, say Israeli forces and armed groups “routine” open fire on the Palestinians seeking help.

Israel denies its soldiers to deliberately shoot recipients of help and says that the GHF system provides direct help to the people who need it by circumventing Hamas’s intervention.

GHF said it had delivered more than 52 million meals in five weeks and that other organizations “stand helplessly as their assistance is looted.”

The joint statement on Tuesday by some of the largest charity organizations and the NGO says GHF violates all norms of humanitarian work, including by forcing two million people in overcrowded and militarized areas where they face daily shooting.

Ever since GHF began acting in Gaza, almost daily reports have been reported to Israeli forces, killing people seeking help to these sites, from medics, eyewitnesses and health ministry in the territory.

On Tuesday, the ministry reports that a total of 583 people were killed while seeking help from May 26, including 408 near the GHF distribution centers.

GHF system replaced 400 help distribution points that worked during the last temporary termination of Israel-Hamas fire Four sites for distribution Located in Israeli militarized zones and run by private security contractors – three in the distant southwest of Gaza and one in central gas.

“Today, the Palestinians in Gaza are faced with an impossible choice: they are starving or risking being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the NGO warns in their joint statement.

“Orphaned children and careful care are among the dead, with children being injured in over half of the attacks on civilians at these sites.”

In response to criticism, a GHF spokesman said: “We have delivered more than 52 million meals in just five weeks. Not talking points, not titles, but food reaching Palestinian families every day.”

“Meanwhile, other organizations stand helplessly as their assistance is looted. We suggested that they help them deliver it safely. They refused.”

They added: “The humanitarian community must return to its main mission – to feed people – not to protect outdated systems or to avoid discomfort from change.”

On Friday, UN Secretary -General Antonio Guterres called the GHF assistance system, “inherently dangerous”, adding: “Kills people.”

From the very beginning, the UN opposed the plan, stating that it would “militarize” help, bypass the existing distribution network led by UN-LED, and force Gazani to make long trips through dangerous territory to get food.

Israeli military have said he was considering reports that civilians were “hurt” When approaching centers for the distribution of GHF assistance.

According to a report by the Israeli Haaretz newspaper on Friday, the unnamed Israeli defense soldiers (IDF) said they had been ordered to shoot unarmed civilians near places to distribute help to banish or scattered them.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flatly rejected the report, calling the allegations of “malicious lies.”

The Israeli military also denied charges of deliberately shooting Palestinians waiting to collect humanitarian assistance.

In a statement on Monday, the IDF said it reorganized access to the sites and this would include a new “fence” and signs, including targeted and warning signs, to improve the operational response.

GHF said in response to Haaretz’s history that “there were no incidents or casualties in or in the immediate vicinity of any of our distribution sites.”

The 170 plus NGOs said the GHF system was not a “humanitarian reaction” for Gazanians.

“Against the backdrop of difficult hunger -like conditions, many families tell us that they are too weak now to compete for food rage,” the groups said.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 against Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and 251 others were taken hostage.

Since then, at least 56 647 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the territory.