Controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation ends aid operations

The controversial, US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) says it is winding down its aid operations in the Palestinian territory, after almost six months.

The organisation had already suspended its three food distribution sites in Gaza after the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel took effect six weeks ago.

The GHF aimed to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid to Gaza’s population. UN and other aid agencies refused to co-operate with its system, saying it was unethical and unsafe.

Hundreds of Palestinians were killed while seeking food amid chaotic scenes near GHF’s sites, mostly by Israeli fire, according to the UN. Israel said its troops fired warning shots.

The GHF said on Monday that it was winding down operations now because of the “successful completion of its emergency mission”, with a total of three million packages containing the equivalent of more than 187 million meals delivered to Palestinians.

The GHF’s executive director, Jon Acree, also said the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Centre (CMCC) – which has been set up to help implement US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan – would be “adopting and expanding the model GHF piloted”.

US state department spokesperson Tommy Piggott wrote on X: “GHF’s model, in which Hamas could no longer loot and profit from stealing aid, played a huge role in getting Hamas to the table and achieving a ceasefire.”

Hamas – which denies stealing aid – welcomed the closure of the GHF, Reuters reported.

A Hamas spokesman said GHF should be held accountable for the harm it caused to Palestinians.

“We call upon all international human rights organisations to ensure that it does not escape accountability after causing the death and injury of thousands of Gazans and covering up the starvation policy practised by the (Israeli) government,” Hazem Qassem wrote on his Telegram channel.

The GHF began operations in Gaza on 26 May, a week after Israel had partially eased a total blockade on aid and commercial deliveries to Gaza that lasted 11 weeks and caused severe shortages of essential supplies. Three months later, a famine was declared in Gaza City.

The GHF’s food distribution sites in southern and central Gaza were operated by US private security contractors and located inside Israeli military zones.

The UN and its partners said the system contravened the fundamental humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence, and that channelling desperate people into militarised zones was inherently unsafe.

The UN’s human rights office said it recorded the killing of at least 859 Palestinians seeking food in the vicinity of GHF sites between 26 May and 31 July. Another 514 people were killed near the routes of UN and other aid convoys, it added. Most of them were killed by the Israeli military, according to the office.

The Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots at people who approached them in a “threatening” manner.

The GHF said there were no shootings at the aid sites and accused the UN of using “false and misleading” statistics from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The GHF’s future had been uncertain since Hamas and Israel agreed a ceasefire deal to implement the first phase of Trump’s peace plan.

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 addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner” with Hamas and Israel.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday that the GHF’s shutdown would have “no impact” on its operations “because we never worked with them”.

He also said that while more aid was getting into Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October, it was “not enough to meet all the needs” of the 2.1 million population.