Exclusive: US to give $30 million to Gaza aid operation despite violence concerns
Washington has long backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation diplomatically, but this is the first known U.S. government financial contribution to the organization, which uses private U.S. military and logistics firms to transport aid into the Palestinian enclave for distribution at so-called secure sites.
A document reviewed by Reuters showed that the $30 million U.S. Agency for International Development grant to GHF was authorized on Friday under a "priority directive" from the White House and State Department. The document showed an initial $7 million disbursement had been made.
The United States could approve additional monthly grants of $30 million for the GHF, said two of the sources, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.
The White House referred questions about the matter to the State Department. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation declined to comment on the U.S. funding or the concerns of some U.S. officials about the operation.
Israel's embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the $30 million U.S. grant.
In approving the U.S. funding for the GHF, the sources said 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.
Such an audit "would normally take many, many weeks if not months," said one source, who is a former senior U.S. official.
The GHF also was exempted from additional vetting required for groups supplying aid to Gaza - ruled by Iran-backed Hamas militants - to ensure that there are no links to extremism, the sources said.
The GHF is working in Gaza with a for-profit logistics firm, Safe Reach Solutions, headed by a former CIA officer, and its security contractor, UG Solutions, which employs armed U.S. military veterans.
Reuters reported this month that U.S. ally Israel had asked President Donald Trump's administration to give $500 million to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Sources said the money would come from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is being folded into the State Department.
Some U.S. officials opposed giving any U.S. funds to the foundation over concerns about violence near aid distribution sites, the GHF's inexperience and the involvement of the for-profit U.S. logistics and private military firms, said the four sources.
Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited U.N. deliveries to resume, the United Nations says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid from both the U.N. and GHF operations.
"The majority of the casualties have been shot or shelled trying to reach U.S.-Israeli distribution sites purposefully set up in militarized zones," said senior U.N. aid official for the occupied Palestinian territories, Jonathan Whittall, on Sunday.
"Others have been killed when Israeli forces have fired on Palestinian crowds waiting for food along routes," he said. "Some people have also been killed or injured by armed gangs."
In response, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said on Tuesday that it had so far delivered 40 million meals in Gaza but that the U.N. and other groups were having difficulty distributing aid due to looting of their trucks and warehouses.
A GHF spokesperson said none of the group's trucks had been looted.
"Bottom-line, our aid is getting securely delivered. Instead of bickering and throwing insults from the sidelines, we would welcome the U.N. and other humanitarian groups to join us and feed the people in Gaza. We are ready to collaborate and help them get their aid to people in need," a GHF spokesperson said.
Earlier this month it halted aid deliveries for a day as it pressed Israel to boost civilian safety near its distribution sites after dozens of Palestinians seeking aid were killed. It says there have been no incidents at its sites.
The U.N. has long described its aid operation in Gaza as opportunistic - hindered by Israel's military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza, and looting by armed gangs. The U.N. has stressed that when people know there is a steady flow of aid, the looting subsides.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Recognised Palestinian state could develop disputed gas resources, expert says
Recognition of Palestine as a state would put beyond doubt that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is entitled to develop the natural gas resources of the Gaza Marine field, according to one of the experts that worked on the stalled project. Michael Barron, the author of a new book on Palestine's untapped gas reserves, has suggested the field could generate $4bn (£3bn) in revenue at current prices and it is reasonable that the PA could receive $100m a year over 15 years. He said the revenues 'would not turn the Palestinians into the next Qataris or Singaporeans, but it would be their own revenue and not aid, on which the Palestinian economy remains dependent'. Plans to develop the field have a near 30-year history, during which time legal controversies over ownership have stalled exploration. A law firm representing Palestinian human rights groups sent a warning letter to the Italian state-owned firm ENI that it should not exploit the gas fields in an area known as Zone G, where six licences were awarded by Israel's energy ministry. In their letter, the lawyers claim that roughly 62% of the zone lies in maritime areas claimed by Palestine and, as such, 'Israel cannot have validly awarded you any exploration rights and you cannot validly have acquired any such rights'. Palestine declared its maritime borders, including its exclusive economic zone, when it acceded to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 2015, and set out a detailed claim in 2019. Israel is not a signatory to UNCLOS. Barron said recognition of Palestine, particularly by states with large oil firms registered in their jurisdiction, would effectively end the legal ambiguity, and provide the PA with not only a new secure source of income, but regular supplies of energy independent of Israel. Since the legal letter, ENI has told pressure groups in Italy that 'licences have not yet been issued and no exploratory activities are in progress'. Another group, Global Witness, claims the East Mediterranean Gas pipeline that runs parallel to the Gaza coastline is unlawful since it runs through Palestinian waters, and is not providing any revenue to the PA. The 56-mile (90km) pipeline transports gas from Ashkelon in Israel to Arish in Egypt, where it is then processed into liquefied natural gas for export, including to Europe. 'The Oslo Accords agreed in 1993 clearly give the Palestinian National Authority jurisdiction over territorial waters, the subsoil, power to legislate over oil and gas exploration and to award licences to do so,' Barron said. 'Control over natural resources was an important element of [the] state-building agenda of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Israeli exploitation of Palestinian resources was and remains a central part of the conflict.' Gas was discovered in the Gaza Marine field in 2000 in a joint venture owned by the BG Gas group, a giant privatised off-shoot of British Gas and the Palestinian Consolidated Contractors Company. The plan was for the gas to be used by the sole power station on the Gaza strip to end the territory's perennial energy shortages. Barron argues in his book – The Gaza Marine Story - that the fate of the project is a microcosm of how Israel worked to increase Palestinian dependence on Israel while at the same time trying to separate Palestinians from Israelis. The project was dogged by issues of commercial viability and an Israeli court ruling that the waters were a 'no-man's water', partly because the PA was not a sovereign entity with unambiguous powers to award licences. The court also did not resolve whether the rights to Palestinian territorial waters clearly provided for in the Oslo Accords included a Palestinian 'exclusive economic zone', a zone that normally extends 200 miles off the coast. The accords were only intended to be an interim arrangement before full statehood and so did not delineate the full maritime border. Territorial waters are normally defined as only 12 or 20 miles off the coast and Israel always argued that any licence for Gaza Marine 20 miles off the Gaza coast should be seen as a gift to the PA by Israel, and not a right. After Hamas took control the Gaza strip in 2007, Israel did not want the revenue to fall into its hands, so it blocked the development, prompting the BG group to put the project on hold and then eventually to quit. In June 2023 Israel approved plans for an Egyptian firm EGAS to develop the field, only for the war in Gaza to start. Gaza Marine is estimated to contain only 30 billion cubic metres (BCM) of natural gas, which is a small fraction of the more than 1,000 BCM contained in Israel's own territorial waters. Barron argued that Israel has its own gas supplies and so long as a Palestinian state with unified governance is recognised, Israel will have no motive or legal right to block Palestine exploiting its single greatest natural resource. The whole controversy around private sector investment in Israel's acknowledged occupation of Palestine moved centre stage with a report published last week by the UN special rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, warning corporations against sustaining what has been declared an unlawful occupation by the international court of justice (ICJ). She claims ICJ decisions place on corporate entities a prima facie responsibility 'to not engage and/or to withdraw totally and unconditionally from any associated dealings with Israel, and to ensure that any engagement with Palestinians enables their self-determination'. Her claim has been rejected wholesale by Israel.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Trump's EPA eliminates research and development office and begins layoffs
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Friday it is eliminating its research and development arm and reducing agency staff by thousands of employees. One union leader said the moves 'will devastate public health in our country'. The agency's office of research and development (ORD) has long provided the scientific underpinnings for the EPA's mission to protect the environment and human health. The EPA said in May it would shift its scientific expertise and research efforts to program offices that focus on major issues such as air and water. The agency said on Friday it is creating a new office of applied science and environmental solutions that will allow it to focus on research and science 'more than ever before'. Once fully implemented, the changes will save the EPA nearly $750m, officials said. Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, the top Democrat on the House science committee, called the elimination of the research office 'a travesty'. 'The Trump administration is firing hardworking scientists while employing political appointees whose job it is to lie incessantly to Congress and to the American people,' she said. 'The obliteration of ORD will have generational impacts on Americans' health and safety.' EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement that the changes announced Friday would ensure the agency 'is better equipped than ever to deliver on our core mission of protecting human health and the environment, while Powering the Great American Comeback'. The EPA also said it is beginning the process to eliminate thousands of jobs, following asupreme court ruling last week that cleared the way for Donald Trump's plans to downsize the federal workforce, despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs. Total staffing at EPA will go down to 12,448, a reduction of more than 3,700 employees, or nearly 23%, from staffing levels in January when Trump took office, the agency said. 'This reduction in force will ensure we can better fulfill that mission while being responsible stewards of your hard-earned tax dollars,' Zeldin said, using a government term for mass firings. The office of research and development 'is the heart and brain of the EPA', said Justin Chen, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents thousands of EPA employees. 'Without it, we don't have the means to assess impacts upon human health and the environment,' Chen said. 'Its destruction will devastate public health in our country.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion The research office – EPA's main science arm – currently has 1,540 positions, excluding special government employees and public health officers, according to agency documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the House science panel earlier this year. As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists could be laid off, the documents indicated. The research office has 10 facilities across the country, stretching from Florida and North Carolina to Oregon. An EPA spokeswoman said that all laboratory functions currently conducted by the research office will continue. In addition to the reduction in force, the agency also is offering the third round of deferred resignations for eligible employees, including research office staff, spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou said. The application period is open until 25 July. The EPA's announcement comes two weeks after the agency put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a 'declaration of dissent' with agency policies under the Trump administration. The agency accused the employees of 'unlawfully undermining' Trump's agenda. In a letter made public on 30June, the employees wrote that the EPA is no longer living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face retaliation for speaking out. Associated Press contributed to reporting
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
ICE raid sparks pandemonium as cops batter agitators blocking major bridge
Dozens were arrested, and one cop was placed on administrative duty after violent clashes broke out during an anti-ICE protest on an interstate bridge. Demonstrators protesting the immigration detention of former hospital chaplain Ayman Soliman blocked the Roebling Bridge that carries traffic between Ohio and Kentucky on Thursday. Approximately 100 people crossed the bridge from the Ohio side, but fights broke out after protesters were met by nearly 50 officers from Covington, Kentucky, reported Shocking footage showed one officer punching a protester several times as police wrestled him to the ground. Covington Police Chief Brian Valenti claimed the protester, Brandon Hill, had tried to disarm an officer carrying a pepper ball gun. However, Hill, who was left covered in scratches and bruises and with his arm in a sling, insisted he was just trying not to get shot. 'It's all very traumatic, and I'm still trying to recover from this, honestly,' Hill told WCPO. 'If anything like that happened, it's because a random gun was pointed in my face.' Covington police placed the officer who arrested Hill on administrative duty with pay while the investigation is ongoing. Body camera footage from the unidentified officer showed him chasing Hill as he was running along the sidewalk before the cop grabbed him near the ledge of the bridge. Hill can be heard on other officers' body cams yelling 'ow' and 'stop' as he got hit in the head. In the officer's use-of-force report, he wrote: '[Hill] continued to physically resist, actively concealing his hands... fearing that [he] might be attempting to access a weapon, and that the surrounding crowd opposed a threat to my safety, I delivered additional closed fist strikes.' Another video from the protest showed people wearing neon-colored vests pushing against a black SUV on the bridge. Police arrested 15 people during the protest, including two journalists, after police said they had refused to comply with orders to disperse. Covington police said in a statement that officers who initially attempted to talk with the protest's organizer were threatened and met with hostility. 'While the department supports the public's right to peaceful assembly and expression, threatening officers and blocking critical infrastructure, such as a major bridge, presents a danger to all involved,' the police said. Among the charges filed against those arrested were rioting, failing to disperse, obstructing emergency responders, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. Reporter Madeline Fening and photo intern Lucas Griffith were charged with felony rioting and several other charges, said Ashley Moor, the editor in chief of CityBeat. A judge on Friday set a $2,500 bond for each of those arrested. The arrests happened during a protest in support of Ayman Soliman, 51, an Egyptian immigrant who worked as a chaplain at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. He was detained last week after he showed up for a routine check-in with ICE officials at their office near Cincinnati. According to his lawyers, he was granted asylum in 2018 based on past persecution for his work as a journalist in Egypt during the Arab Spring uprising. His lawyers say he was jailed and tortured for reporting on the intense political conflict.
